Peptide vaccine
A peptide vaccine is a vaccine whose antigens are peptides .
properties
Compared to other vaccines, synthetic peptide vaccines have a lower risk of disease due to contamination with human pathogens. Furthermore, in contrast to an isolation of a pathogen and its inactivation (in the case of inactivated vaccines or split vaccines ) or to an attenuation (in the case of live vaccines ), no infection with the pathogen can occur due to the manufacturing process. However, the immunogenicity is lower compared to the other vaccines, which is why comparatively larger amounts of peptide vaccines are used.
construction
A peptide vaccine is produced by peptide synthesis or as a recombinant protein in cell cultures . In its amino acid sequence , a peptide vaccine contains a typical epitope for B cells of the respective pathogen and an epitope for T helper cells , which is bound by as many MHC II variants of the T helper cells as possible . Sometimes mimotopes are also used as epitopes . Peptides smaller than fifteen amino acids are - like other haptens - comparatively little immunogenic as small molecules , which is why short peptides are usually coupled to an immunostimulating protein that is foreign to the body , creating a conjugate vaccine . This carrier protein is chosen so that it induces the lowest possible immune reaction against itself and possibly has an epitope for T helper cells.
Individual evidence
- ^ Rino Rappuoli: Vaccine Design. Horizon Scientific Press, 2011, ISBN 978-1-904-45574-5 , p. 13.
- ↑ a b Abba Kastin: Handbook of Biologically Active Peptides. Academic Press, 2011, ISBN 978-0-080-46379-7 , p. 495.
- ^ Martin P. Cranage: Vaccine Protocols. Springer Science & Business Media, 2003, ISBN 978-1-592-59399-6 , p. 117.