Glycoconjugate vaccines.

Licensed glycoconjugate vaccines provide protective immunity against bacterial pathogens by eliciting a T-cell-dependent immune response to the corresponding bacterial saccharide covalently linked to a protein carrier. The field is rapidly expanding to include the introduction of novel carrier proteins and conjugation chemistries, the development of novel antimicrobial vaccines and an improved understanding of the mechanisms by which these vaccines induce protective responses. An exciting application is to the area of antitumor immunotherapeutics.