The Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc.

The Bingham and Women's Hospital

Julia Y Wang

Dennis L Kasper

Gerald B Pier

David McKenney

Arthur O Tzianabos

Andrew B Onderdonk

Michael H Roehrl

The invention relates to compositions of the capsular polysaccharide/adhesin (PS/A) of staphylococci. The PS/A may be isolated or synthesized and includes various modifications to the structure of native PS/A based on the chemical characterization of PS/A. The invention also relates to the use of the PS/A as a vaccine for inducing active immunity to infections caused by, other related coagulase-negative staphylococci and organisms carrying the ica (intracellular adhesin) locus, and to the use of antibodies directed to PS/A for inducing passive immunity to the same class of infections.

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The invention relates to three-dimensional molecular structure determination of polymers, three-dimensional computer molecular modeling, rational drug design, and immunomodulatory polymers. In particular the invention is directed to immunomodulatory polymers, as well as to methods for designing, selecting, and screening therapeutic agents having immunomodulatory activity.

Use of zwitterionic polysaccharides for the specific modulation of immune processes

The invention relates to compositions of the capsular polysaccharide/adhesin (PS/A) of. The PS/A may be isolated or synthesized and includes various modifications to the structure of native PS/A based on the chemical characterization of PS/A. The invention also relates to the use of the PS/A as a vaccine for inducing active immunity to infections caused by, other related coagulase-negativeand organisms carrying the ica (intracellular adhesin) locus, and to the use of antibodies directed to PS/A for inducing passive immunity to the same class of infections.

Methods and products for inducing IL-2 secretion, inducing IL-10 secretion, activating T cells, suppressing IgG antibody response to specific antigen, promoting allograft survival, reducing postoperative surgical adhesion formation, and protecting against abscess formation associated with surgery, trauma or diseases that predispose the host to abscess formation are provided. The methods of the invention are accomplished using an immunomodulator which is a polymer having at least two repeating charge motifs separated by at least a certain minimum distance.

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Chestnut Hill, MA, United States of America

Julia Y Wang