Zwitterionic polysaccharides (ZPs) have been shown in recent years to display peculiar immunological properties, thus attracting the interest of the carbohydrate research community. To fully elucidate the mechanisms underlying these properties and exploit the potential of this kind of structures, in depth studies are still required. In this context, the preparation of two cationic, an anionic, as well as two zwitterionic tetrasaccharide analogues of the smallest immunogenic structure of Streptococcus pneumoniae type 14 (SP14) capsular polysaccharide are presented. By exploiting a block strategy, the negative charge has been installed on the non-reducing end of the lactose unit of the tetrasaccharide and the positive charge either on the non-reducing end of the lactosamine moiety or on an external linker. These structures have then been tested by competitive ELISA, showing that the structural variations we made do not modify the affinity of the neutral compound to binding to a specific antibody. However, lower efficacies than the natural SP14 compound were observed. The results obtained, although promising, point to the need to further elongate the polysaccharide structure, which is likely too short to cover the entire epitopes.
最近几年,已经证明了离子交换多糖(ZPs)具有独特的免疫学特性,因此引起了碳水化合物研究界的关注。为了充分阐明这些特性的机制并利用这种结构的潜力,仍需要进行深入的研究。在这种情况下,介绍了两个阳离子,一个阴离子以及两个离子交换四糖类似物的最小免疫原性结构的制备。这些结构是链式的,负电荷被安装在四糖的乳糖单元的非还原端上,而正电荷则安装在乳糖胺基团的非还原端或外部连接剂上。然后,通过竞争性ELISA测试了这些结构,结果显示,我们所做的结构变化不会改变中性化合物与特定抗体结合的亲和力。然而,观察到比自然SP14化合物低的效能。虽然结果是有希望的,但它指出需要进一步延长多糖结构的长度,这很可能太短,无法覆盖整个表位。