Artificial Carriers: A Strategy for Constructing Antigenic/Immunogenic Conjugates

Authors: Sakarellos-Daitsiotis, Maria; Krikorian, Dimitrios; Panou-Pomonis, Eugenia; Sakarellos, Constantinos

Source: Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry, Volume 6, Number 16, August 2006 , pp. 1715-1735(21)

Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers

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Abstract:

The rational design of artificial carriers for anchoring multiple copies of B and/or T cell epitopes, built-in vaccine adjuvants and "promiscuous" T cell epitopes for the construction of conjugates as antigenic substrates or potent immunogens has been the stimulus of intensive efforts nowadays. The unambiguous composition, the reliability and the versatility of the production of reconstituted antigens or immunogens has found a great number of biochemical applications in developing immunoassays of high sensitivity, specificity and reproducibility and in generating site-specific antibodies for usage as human vaccine candidates. In this review are summarized different types of artificial carriers currently used as dendrimers bearing branching segments, multimeric core matrices and templates with built-in folding devices. Emphasis is given to the construction and application of a helicoid-type Sequential Oligopeptide Carrier (SOCn) developed in our laboratory. The beneficial structural elements of SOCn induce a favorable arrangement of the conjugated peptides, which also retain their initial "active" conformation, so that potent antigens and immunogens are generated.

Keywords: Dendrimers; multimeric core matrices; templates with built-in folding devices; Sequential Oligopeptide Carriers; artificial conjugates; immunoassays; site specific antibodies

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/156802606778194190

Affiliations: 1: Department of Chemistry, Section of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Ioannina,45110 Ioannina, Greece.

Publication date: 2006-08-01