POLYSACCHARIDE-PEPTIDE-CONJUGATES

摘要

The invention relates to a polysaccharide-peptide conjugate wherein the polysaccharide is advantageously immunogenic, which comprises a polysaccharide chain composed of repeat units and a plurality of peptide moieties, each moiety containing a cysteine residue and being covalently attached at random along the polysaccharide chain, through an indirect bond being achieved through either a linker or a spacer-linker moiety provided that the spacer entity of the spacer-linker moiety is linked to the amino, hydroxyl or carboxyl group of the polysaccharide. To this end a useful linker may be, e.g., N-(gamma-maleimidobutyrloxy)succinimide ester. Such a conjugate may typically exhibit a "Rake" configuration. Conjugation processes are also disclosed. Conjugates of the invention are in particular useful in the vaccinal field to elicit a protective long term immune response against a pathogenic microorganism from which the Immunogenic polysaccharide is derived.