It was hypothesized that the observed slight immunostimulatory effect of the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide (pneumo-23) vaccine might be due to the presence of low levels of zwitterionic motifs. Therefore, it was hypothesized further that introducing zwitterionic motifs experimentally into polysaccharides of pneumo-23 vaccine might render it an effective immunostimulatory agent.
The seroprevalence of IgG antibodies of Streptococcus gallolyticus subspecies gallolyticus, CIP 105428, was evaluated to investigate the controversial association of S. gallolyticus with colorectal carcinoma and adenoma in attempt to investigate the nature of such association if any, by exploring the mRNA expression of NF-kappaB and IL-8. Moreover, the serological behavior of S. gallolyticus IgG antibodies was compared to that of an indicator bacterium of bowel, Bacteroides fragilis.