Conformational epitope Conjugates

The epitope, considered as an allergenic determinant, may also consist of the shape of the hapten-carrier protein conjugate. The identical or very close, three-dimensional shape of the different epitopes explains the possibility of cross-immune response. On the contrary, a geometric conformation change, which can sometimes be secondary, may prevent a specific recognition by the immune system. Some examples will illustrate this concept. First, let s study some examples of similarities. 

Manea M., Hudecz F., Przybylski M., Mezo G. (2005) Synthesis, solution conformation, and antibody recognition of oligotuftsin-based conjugates containing a beta-amy-loid(4-10) plaque-specific epitope. Bioconjug Ghent, 16 921-8. 

Several groups of branched polypeptide based synthetic compounds were also prepared by introduction of B-cell or T-cell epitope peptides onto the side end of the branches. We have demonstrated that the efficacy of antibody response specific for a Herpes Simplex virus glycoprotein D epitope is highly dependent on the chemical structure (sequence and conformation) ofbranched polypeptide carrier. Recently a fully synthetic prototype conjugate of EAK with two independent T cell epitope peptides of... 

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