Epitopes immunoreactivity effects

In order to model the effect of formalin fixation and antigen retrieval on antibody immunoreactivity, we used a peptide epitope array (Fig. 16.5). The peptide epitopes are derived from the exact sequences in the native proteins. In this experiment, the initial findings are similar to those shown in Figure 16.1, but they are then extended by allowing for the role of adjacent proteins. 

There are two general methods for identifying antibody epitopes (1) evaluate peptides whose composition is based on the sequence of the native protein, or (2) evaluate peptides that are selected from a random combinatorial peptide library. The former is only effective if the epitope is composed of a linear sequence of amino acids in the native protein sequence. If it is, then analysis of overlapping peptides from the native protein is a simple method for identifying antibody epitopes. Each peptide is tested for immunoreactivity to the antibody. Those peptides that are immunoreactive contain the epitope. The other method of epitope identihcation, selection from a random combinatorial library, will identify peptides that represent both linear and conformationally dependent epitopes. The drawback of this method is that biopanning from a random combinatorial peptide library is more time consuming. Phage-displayed peptide libraries have previously been used for epitope identification in this context. ... 

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