About the Authors

Antonella Torosantucci

Affiliation Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immune-mediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Paola Chiani

Affiliation Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immune-mediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Carla Bromuro

Affiliation Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immune-mediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Flavia De Bernardis

Affiliation Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immune-mediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Angelina S. Palma

Affiliation Glycosciences Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

Yan Liu

Affiliation Glycosciences Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

Giuseppina Mignogna

Affiliation Department of Biochemical Sciences ‘A. Rossi Fanelli’, University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, Rome, Italy

Bruno Maras

Affiliation Department of Biochemical Sciences ‘A. Rossi Fanelli’, University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, Rome, Italy

Marisa Colone

Affiliation Departments of Technology and Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Annarita Stringaro

Affiliation Departments of Technology and Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Silvia Zamboni

Affiliation Department of Therapeutic Research and Medicine Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Ten Feizi

Affiliation Glycosciences Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

Antonio Cassone

antonio.cassone@iss.it

Affiliation Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immune-mediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: AT PC CB FDB AP YL GM BM MC AS SZ TF AC. Performed the experiments: PC CB FDB AP YL GM BM MC AS SZ. Analyzed the data: AT PC CB FDB AP YL GM BM MC AS SZ TF. Wrote the paper: AT TF AC. Coordinated and supervised all activities, revised the manuscript and took overall responsibility for manuscript scientific content: AC. Responsible for general planning of in vitro and in vivo investigations, for analysis of results and for writing the manuscript: AT. In vitro investigation: PC CB. Performed the in vivo testing with the rat vaginal model: FDB. Performed microarrays of saccharides: AP. Performed MALDI-TOF and synthesis of saccharides: YL. Performed mass spectrometry experiments and cell wall protein identification: GM BM. Performed electron microscopic investigations: MC AS. Performed sequencing of antibodies: SZ. Responsible for microarrays investigations and contribution to writing the paper: TF.