Synthesis of a Multivalent, Multiepitope Vaccine Construct

TL;DRAbstract

A major challenge to contemporary peptide chemistry is to reproduce highly complex active sites or complexes of native proteins. In addition to the need for the combination of different peptide fragments, true protein mimics designed for therapeutic use frequently require the incorporation of multiple copies of given active domains in a biologically relevant spatial arrangement. Perhaps the best examples for this line of drug design are subunit vaccine candidates against extracellular domains of ion-channel proteins. One of our earlier constructs containing four copies of the ectodomain of the M2 protein of influenza virus together with two independent T-helper cell epitopes induced protective antibody production in mice. Here I describe an improved synthesis of the M2-based multiepitope and multivalent peptide construct. In general, the synthetic strategy outlined here can serve as a model for the orthogonal N-terminal and side-chain-protecting scheme during the preparation of large,

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