Vaccines against meningococcal disease: current and future technologies.

Development of the meningococcal serogroup C conjugate vaccine and its national implementation in the UK has been a major breakthrough in the prevention of meningococcal disease. New technologies are increasing the likelihood that research towards a vaccine against group B meningococcus will be successful. This review covers the recent development of vaccines against meningococcal disease and examines future vaccine candidates. The development of meningococcal polysaccharide vaccines was based on the virulence of the bacterial capsule components. The immunogenicity of these vaccines has been improved by covalent linkage to proteins in the new meningococcal C conjugate vaccines. However, the most promising developments for serogroup B disease have stemmed from other virulence determinants such as outer membrane proteins (OMPs) and lipopolysaccharides (LPS). New genome sequencing technology promises a way forward to developing a broadly cross-protective vaccine for this important pathogen.