Immunodominant epitope

Development of a peptide vaccine is derived from the identification of the immunodominant epitope of an antigen (141). A polypeptide based on the amino acid sequence of the epitope can then be synthesized. Preparation of a peptide vaccine has the advantage of allowing for large-scale production of a vaccine at relatively low cost. It also allows for selecting the appropriate T- or B-ceU epitopes to be included in the vaccine, which may be advantageous in some cases. Several vaccines based on peptide approaches, such as SPf66 (95) for malaria and an HIV-1 peptide (142) have been in clinical trials. No peptide vaccines are Hcensed as yet. 

Denkers, E.Y., Wassom, D.L., Krco, C.J. and Hayes, C.E. (1990b) The mouse antibody response to Trichinella spiralis defines a single, immunodominant epitope shared by multiple antigens. Journal of Immunology 144, 3152-3159. 

OE226 Cardaba, B., V. Del Pozo, A. Jurado, et al. Olive pollen allergy searching for immunodominant T-cell epitopes on the Ole e 1 molecule. Clin Exp Allergy 1998 28(4) 413-422. 

The use of peptide libraries to study T cell specificity was first demonstrated by Gundlach et al.45 Since then studies have focused on T cell specificity with emphasis on the identification of immunodominant epitopes in infectious diseases and autoimmune disorders, and on the determination of tumor antigens. The PS-SCL approach, as described above, was successfully used to study T cell recognition and to identify and optimize peptides having a range of activities in stimulating proliferative responses, cytokine production, and/or lysis by CD4+ and CD8+ murine and human T cell clones and T cell lines of known and unknown specificity.46-53... 

Schlichtholz, B., Legros, Y., Gillet, D., Gaillard, C., Marty, M., Lane, D., Calvo, F., and Soussi, T. 1992. The immune response to p53 in breast cancer patients is directed against immunodominant epitopes unrelated to the mutational hot spot. Cancer Res. 52 6380-6384. 

In a mouse model of aerosol sensitization to birch pollen we previously demonstrated that intranasal as well as oral administration of the major birch pollen allergen Bet v 1 prevented allergic sensitization, airway inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness [28], Similar effects were achieved using hypoallergenic derivates of Bet v 1, containing the immunodominant T cell peptides but not the anaphylactogenic B cell epitopes, for intranasal tolerance induction [60],... 

The immunodominant influenza matrix T cell epitope recognized in human induces influenza protection in HLA-A2/K(b) transgenic mice. Virology 309 320-329... 

Mine, Y. and Rupa, P. 2003. Fine mapping and structural analysis of immunodominant IgE allergenic epitopes in chicken egg ovalbumin. Protein Eng 16(10) 747-752. 

From the 11 epitopes tested, 3 appeared to be immunodominant. Hazelnut is known to cross-react with tree pollen and only little data exist on pollen-unrelated allergens causing hazelnut allergy. As one example, the cDNA of Cor a 9, an 11S globulin seed storage protein has been cloned, but no experimental data on sequential IgE-binding epitopes have been obtained (Beyer et al., 2002). 

Sen, M., Kopper, R., Pons, L., Abraham, E.C., Burks, A.W., and Bannon, G.A. 2002. Protein structure plays a critical role in peanut allergen stability and may determine immunodominant IgE-binding epitopes. J Immunol 169(2) 882-887. 

Stanley, J.S., King, N., Burks, A.W. et al. 1997. Identification mutational analysis of the immunodominant IgE-binding epitopes of the major peanut allergen Ara h 2. Arch Biochem Biophys 342 244-253. 

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