The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 11, 2002
Filed:
Sep. 23, 1997
David S. Stephens, Stone Mountain, GA (US);
John S. Swartley, Westport, CT (US);
Emory University, Atlanta, GA (US);
Abstract
The present invention is based on the discovery of meningococcal isolates having genetic markers of a particular serogroup but expressing a capsular polysaccharide of a different serogroup. These isolates and prototype serogroup A, B, C, Y and W-135 strains were used to define the capsular biosynthetic operon of the major meningococcal serogroups and to show that capsule switching occurs as a result of allelic exchange of, for example, the polysialyl-transferase gene. Findings of capsule switching in vivo indicate that closely related virulent meningococcal clones may not be recognized by traditional serogroup-based surveillance and can escape vaccine-induced or natural protective immunity by capsule switching. The invention provides recombinant meningococcal strains, recombinant DNA constructs and immunological preparations useful as diagnostic probes for detection and diagnosis of meningococcal diseases, screening for specific meningococcal serogroups and broad based immunizations with multivalent capsular polysaccharide conjugate vaccines.