title: The immunogenicity of various peptide antigens inducing cross-reacting antibodies to a cell surface protein antigen of Streptococcus mutans.
abstract: A cell surface protein antigen (PAc) of Streptococcus mutans may be involved in the binding of bacteria to the tooth surface, and has long been focused upon as a candidate for a preventive vaccine of dental caries. Previously the peptide PAc (365-377) was shown to raise an antibody in B10.D2 mice which inhibited the binding of salivary components to the PAc molecule. Using this peptide as a unit peptide, two constructs based on multiple antigenic peptides, and several types of tandem repeats of two or three copies were synthesized to estimate the immunogenicity of these peptides. Increase in the immunogenicity was observed for all constructs with the use of an adjuvant compared to the unit peptide alone. However, the tandem repeat constructs generally induced antibody production in the absence of adjuvant, while the multiple antigenic peptide constructs did not induce antibody production under the same condition. Although such a phenomenon may be restricted to this particular peptide sequence, these results may influence the strategy for the design of peptide vaccines.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Science, National Institutes of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Oishi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Senpuku
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shimura
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hanada
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nisizawa
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000096:biosynthesis; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D003429:Cross Reactions; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005620:Freund's Adjuvant; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000276:immunology; D020449:Repetitive Sequences, Amino Acid; D013295:Streptococcus mutans / Q000276:immunology*; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D000954:Antigens, Surface; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D010446:Peptide Fragments; C055764:S-layer proteins; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; D005620:Freund's Adjuvant