MEASURING DEGREE OF POLYMERISATION FOR CAPSULAR SACCHARIDES THAT CONTAIN SIALIC ACID

摘要

The degree of polymerisation (DP) is an important parameter for analysis ofsaccharide antigens, particularly in glycoconjugates. The invention providesmethods that can be used to measure DP for capsular saccharides, particularlyfor meningococcal saccharides e.g. from serogroups W135 and Y. A preferredmethod is based on reduction of terminal sialic acid residues on saccharides,with DP then being calculated by comparing the molar ratio of total sialicacid to reduced sialic acid.