title: Viral peptide immunogens: current challenges and opportunities.
abstract: Synthetic peptide vaccines have potential to control viral infections. Successful experimental models using this approach include the protection of mice against the lethal Sendai virus infection by MHC class I binding CTL peptide epitope. The main benefit of vaccination with peptide epitopes is the ability to minimize the amount and complexity of a well-defined antigen. An appropriate peptide immunogen would also decrease the chance of stimulating a response against self-antigens, thereby providing a safer vaccine by avoiding autoimmunity. In general, the peptide vaccine strategy needs to dissect the specificity of antigen processing, the presence of B-and T-cell epitopes and the MHC restriction of the T-cell responses. This article briefly reviews the implications in the design of peptide vaccines and discusses the various approaches that are applied to improve their immunogenicity.
authors.affiliation: Variation Biotechnologies Inc., 22 de Varennes, Suite 210, Gatineau, QC J8T 8R1, Canada.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Azizi
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Diaz-Mitoma
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D010455:Peptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; D010455:Peptides; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; D014764:Viral Proteins