Peptides as tools and drugs for immunotherapies.
Peptides are essential tools for discovery and pre-clinical and pharmaceutical development of viral and cancer vaccines ('active immunotherapies') as well as for therapeutic antibodies ('passive immunotherapies'). They help to trigger and analyze immune responses at a molecular level (B-cell, T-helper and CTL epitopes). They contribute largely to the design of new vaccine candidates and to the generation of monoclonal antibodies. They are also valuable analytical reference compounds for the structural characterisation by liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry of recombinant proteins used as biopharmaceuticals. As for other therapeutic applications, formulation, solubilisation, batch consistency and stability, issues have to be addressed to allow the pre-clinical and clinical development of this class of compounds as immunotherapeutic drugs. In the present review, three case studies dealing with (i) the design and the characterisation of Respiratory Syntycial Virus subunit vaccines, (ii) peptide-based melanoma vaccines, and (iii) therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, all investigated in clinical trials, are reported and discussed.
Beck
Alain
A
Centre d'Immunologie Pierre Fabre, 5 Avenue Napoléon III, F74164 Saint-Julien-en-Genevois, Cedex, France. alain.beck@pierre-fabre.com
Klinguer-Hamour
Christine
C
Bussat
Marie-Claire
MC
Champion
Thierry
T
Haeuw
Jean-François
JF
Goetsch
Liliane
L
Wurch
Thierry
T
Sugawara
Masae
M
Milon
Alain
A
Van Dorsselaer
Alain
A
Nguyen
Thien
T
Corvaïa
Nathalie
N
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D019496:Cancer Vaccines / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte / Q000235:genetics; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D051379:Mice; D018448:Models, Immunological; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010449:Peptide Mapping; D010455:Peptides / Q000276:immunology* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D022261:Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccines / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D018113:Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000956:Antigens, Viral; C472186:BBG2Na vaccine; D019496:Cancer Vaccines; D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D010455:Peptides; D022261:Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccines