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Filamentous phage as an immunogenic carrier to elicit focused antibody responses against a synthetic peptide.

ABSTRACT: Filamentous bacteriophage are widely used as immunogenic carriers for "phage-displayed" recombinant peptides. Here we report that they are an effective immunogenic carrier for synthetic peptides. The f1.K phage was engineered to have an additional Lys residue near the N-terminus of the major coat protein, pVIII, so as to enhance access to chemical cross-linking agents. The dimeric synthetic peptide, B2.1, was conjugated to f1.K (f1.K/B2.1) in high copy number and compared as an immunogen to B2.1 conjugated to ovalbumin (OVA/B2.1) and to phage-displayed, recombinant B2.1 peptide. All immunogens were administered without adjuvant. The serum antibody titers were measured against: the peptide, the carrier, and, if appropriate, the cross-linker. All immunogens elicited anti-peptide antibody titers, with those elicited by OVA/B2.1 exceeding those by f1.K/B2.1; both titers were greater than that elicited by recombinant B2.1 phage. Comparison of the anti-peptide and anti-carrier antibody responses showed that f1.K/B2.1 elicited a more focused anti-peptide antibody response than OVA/B2.1. The anti-peptide antibody response against f1.K/B2.1 was optimized for the injection route, dose and adjuvant. Dose and adjuvant did not have a significant effect on anti-peptide antibody titers, but a change in injection route from intraperitoneal (IP) to subcutaneous (SC) enhanced anti-peptide antibody titers after seven immunizations. The optimized anti-peptide antibody response exceeded the anti-carrier one by 21-fold, compared to 0.07-fold elicited by OVA/B2.1. This indicates that phage as a carrier can focus the antibody response against the peptide. The results are discussed with respect to the advantages of phage as an alternative to traditional carrier proteins for synthetic peptides, carbohydrates and haptens, and to further improvements in phage as immunogenic carriers.

SUBMITTER: van Houten NE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1974903 | biostudies-literature | 2006 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Filamentous phage as an immunogenic carrier to elicit focused antibody responses against a synthetic peptide.

van Houten N E NE Zwick M B MB Menendez A A Scott J K JK

Vaccine 20060111 19

Filamentous bacteriophage are widely used as immunogenic carriers for "phage-displayed" recombinant peptides. Here we report that they are an effective immunogenic carrier for synthetic peptides. The f1.K phage was engineered to have an additional Lys residue near the N-terminus of the major coat protein, pVIII, so as to enhance access to chemical cross-linking agents. The dimeric synthetic peptide, B2.1, was conjugated to f1.K (f1.K/B2.1) in high copy number and compared as an immunogen to B2.1 ...[more]

PMID: 16488517

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Project description:Synthetic antibody libraries have proven immensely useful for the de novo isolation of antibodies without the need for animal immunization. Recently, focused libraries designed to recognize particular classes of ligands, such as haptens or proteins, have been employed to facilitate the selection of high-affinity antibodies. Focused libraries are built using V regions encoding combinations of canonical structures that resemble the structural features of antibodies that bind the desired class of ligands and sequence diversity is introduced at residues typically involved in recognition. Here we describe the generation and experimental validation of two different single-chain antibody variable fragment libraries that efficiently generate binders to peptides, a class of molecules that has proven to be a difficult target for antibody generation. First, a human anti-peptide library was constructed by diversifying a scaffold: the human variable heavy chain (V(H)) germ line gene 3-23, which was fused to a variant of the human variable light chain (V(L)) germ line gene A27, in which L1 was modified to encode the canonical structure found in anti-peptide antibodies. The sequence diversity was introduced into 3-23 (V(H)) only, targeting for diversification residues commonly found in contact with protein and peptide antigens. Second, a murine library was generated using the antibody 26-10, which was initially isolated based on its affinity to the hapten digoxin, but also binds peptides and exhibits a canonical structure pattern typical of anti-peptide antibodies. Diversity was introduced in the V(H) only using the profile of amino acids found at positions that frequently contact peptide antigens. Both libraries yielded binders to two model peptides, angiotensin and neuropeptide Y, following screening by solution phage panning. The mouse library yielded antibodies with affinities below 20 nM to both targets, although only the V(H) had been subjected to diversification.

Project description:The filamentous bacteriophage are highly immunogenic particles that can be used as carrier proteins for peptides and presumably other haptens and antigens. Our previous work demonstrated that the antibody response was better focused against a synthetic peptide if it was conjugated to phage as compared to the classical carrier, ovalbumin. We speculated that this was due, in part, to the relatively low surface complexity of the phage. Here, we further investigate the phage as an immunogenic carrier, and the effect reducing its surface complexity has on the antibody response against peptides that are either displayed as recombinant fusions to the phage coat or are chemically conjugated to it. Immunodominant regions of the minor coat protein, pIII, were removed from the phage surface by excising its N1 and N2 domains (Delta3 phage variant), whereas immunodominant epitopes of the major coat protein, pVIII, were altered by reducing the charge of its surface-exposed N-terminal residues (Delta8 phage variant). Immunization of mice revealed that the Delta3 variant was less immunogenic than wild-type (WT) phage, whereas the Delta8 variant was more immunogenic. The immunogenicity of two different peptides was tested in the context of the WT and Delta3 phage in two different forms: (i) as recombinant peptides fused to pVIII, and (ii) as synthetic peptides conjugated to the phage surface. One peptide (MD10) in its recombinant form produced a stronger anti-peptide antibody response fused to the WT carrier compared to the Delta3 phage carrier, and did not elicit a detectable anti-peptide response in its synthetic form conjugated to either phage carrier. This trend was reversed for a different peptide (4E10(L)), which did not produce a detectable anti-peptide antibody response as a recombinant fusion; yet, as a chemical conjugate to Delta3 phage, but not WT phage, it elicited a highly focused anti-peptide antibody response that exceeded the anti-carrier response by approximately 65-fold. The results suggest that focusing of the antibody response against synthetic peptides can be improved by decreasing the antigenic complexity of the phage surface.

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Filamentous phage as an immunogenic carrier to elicit focused antibody responses against a synthetic peptide.

Publications

Filamentous phage as an immunogenic carrier to elicit focused antibody responses against a synthetic peptide.

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