Epitopic peptides with low similarity to the host proteome: towards biological therapies without side effects.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

A structured analysis of the literature indicates that a low level of sequence similarity to the host proteome modulates the B cell epitope pool in the humoral immune response toward protein antigens. From a clinical point of view, low-similarity peptides might have strong repercussions for the rational development of peptide-based treatments for cancer, autoimmunity and infectious diseases. The most attractive feature of the similarity concept is that it appears to guarantee the highest specificity and lowest cross-reactivity when designing effective, safe and theoretically infallible (immuno)therapeutic tools.

OBJECTIVE/METHODS:

This review describes the research pathway from protein- to peptide-based therapies.

RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS:

Using the breast-cancer-associated BRCA2 protein as a model, the principle of sequence uniqueness is defined as the rationale for a pharmacological platform that might yield improved results in both patient survival and quality of life.

• Authors: Darja Kanduc
• Journal: Expert opinion on biological therapy (Expert Opin Biol Ther) Vol. 9 Issue 1 Pg. 45-53 (Jan 2009) ISSN: 1744-7682 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 19063692 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)

Chemical References

• Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins
• BLID protein, human
• BRCA2 Protein
• BRCA2 protein, human
• Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte
• Peptides
• Proteome
• Vaccines

Topics

• Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins
• Autoimmunity
• BRCA2 Protein (immunology)
• Dendritic Cells (immunology)
• Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte
• Humans
• Peptides (immunology)
• Proteome
• Vaccines (immunology)