As part of an ongoing project aimed at identifying protective capsular polysaccharide epitopes for the development of vaccine candidates against the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, the synthesis and glycosylation properties of a naphthalenylmethyl (NAP) orthogonally protected trisaccharide thioglycoside, a common building block for construction of serotype B and C capsular polysacchari...

Human neutrophil Siglec-9 is a lectin that recognizes sialic acids (Sias) via an amino-terminal V-set Ig domain and possesses tyrosine-based inhibitory motifs in its cytoplasmic tail. We hypothesized that Siglec-9 recognizes host Sias as "self," including in cis interactions with Sias on the neutrophil's own surface, thereby dampening unwanted neutrophil reactivity. Here we show that neutrophil...

The role of the Klebsiella pneumoniae capsular polysaccharide (K antigen) during colonization of the mouse large intestine was assessed with wild-type K. pneumoniae LM21 and its isogenic capsule-defective mutant. When bacterial strains were fed alone to mice, the capsulated bacteria persisted in the intestinal tract at levels of 10(8) CFU/g of feces while the capsule-defective strain colonized ...

Vibrio vulnificus is a pathogenic gram-negative bacterium, endemic to brackish waters, which is often isolated from sediments, from the water column or from shellfish. It is associated with wound infections and septicemia in humans and the virulence of V. vulnificus has been strongly associated with encapsulation. The capsular polysaccharide purified from a virulent strain of V. vulnificus 6353...

Bacteroides species are the most abundant Gram-negative bacteria of the human colonic microbiota. These endogenous organisms are unique in that they synthesize an extensive number of phase-variable surface polysaccharides. Pathogenic bacteria phase vary expression of surface molecules for immune evasion, but the importance of the synthesis of multiple phase-variable polysaccharides to these com...