Recent advances in carbohydrate-based vaccines

Vaccinations provide an efficient and cost-effective way to combat devastating human diseases. Besides pathogenic protein markers, cell surface carbohydrates from biological sources are widely used as vaccines. Recently, synthetic immunogenic carbohydrate–protein conjugates have been advanced to vaccine candidates. Progress in the chemical synthesis of oligosaccharides and conjugation methods stimulated the development of novel carbohydrate-based vaccine candidates.