Multivalent Antigens for Promoting B and T Cell Activation.

ABSTRACT: Efficacious vaccines require antigens that elicit productive immune system activation. Antigens that afford robust antibody production activate both B and T cells. Elucidating the antigen properties that enhance B-T cell communication is difficult with traditional antigens. We therefore used ring-opening metathesis polymerization to access chemically defined, multivalent antigens containing both B and T cell epitopes to explore how antigen structure impacts B cell and T cell activation and communication. The bifunctional antigens were designed so that the backbone substitution level of each antigenic epitope could be quantified using (19)F NMR. The T cell peptide epitope was appended so that it could be liberated in B cells via the action of the endosomal protease cathepsin D, and this des

SUBMITTER: Bennett NR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4669068 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature