Abstract

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major respiratory pathogen responsible for many diseases in young children and elderly. Because of the increasing antibiotic resistance of pneumococci recently, the need for development of an effective vaccine is more and more urgent. Since the 7-valent conjugate vaccine was licensed in the United States in 2000, its efficacy has been widely recognized. Effort on researching polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccine never stopped. This article reviewed the conjugate vaccines in view of the carrier proteins.

Key words: Conjugate vaccine, Streptococcus pneumoniae, capsular polysaccharide, carrier protein.