title: Improvement of the T-cell response to a non-immunogenic peptide by its tandem association with a highly efficient T-helper peptide.
abstract: The 45-69 peptide, an helper T-cell epitope derived from HIV nef protein, is strongly immunogenic. A T-cell proliferative response was observed following immunization of Lou/M rats with 45-69 peptide administered in low dose and without any adjuvant. It is already known that the T-cell response to the 115-131 peptide of Sm28GST antigen, a protein of the parasite Schistosoma mansoni, requires the presence of a carrier or the use of peptidic constructs. We demonstrate here that a T-cell response against the 115-131 peptide can be obtained in the absence of adjuvant using peptidic constructs (115-45 and 45-115 peptides) resulting from tandem synthesis of 115-131 and 45-69 peptides. A covalent association of both peptides is necessary, since the co-injection of 45-69 and 115-131 peptides is not sufficient to induce a detectable anti-115-131 T-cell response. The mutual orientation between the respective tandem peptides (45-115 and 115-45) is critical for the T-cell response. These peptidic constructs possess distinct properties of antigenicity and immunogenicity but both allowed to reveal the existence of a 115-131 specific T-cell response normally undetectable using 115-131 peptide alone. This immunopharmacological approach should be useful in the rational design and construction of vaccines.
authors.affiliation: Unité mixte INSERM U167-CNRS 624, Institut Pasteur de Lille, France.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rouaix
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gras-Masse
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mazingue
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Ridel
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Diesis
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marguerite
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Estaquier
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Capron
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tartar
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Auriault
mesh_terms: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000941:Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D015693:Gene Products, nef / Q000276:immunology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000276:immunology; D010455:Peptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000276:immunology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000276:immunology*; D054311:nef Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
chemical_list: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D000941:Antigens; D000939:Epitopes; D015693:Gene Products, nef; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D010455:Peptides; D054311:nef Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus