THE EFFECT OF THE LENGTH OF A MALARIAL EPITOPE ON ITS ANTIGENICITY AND IMMUNOGENICITY IN AN EPITOPE PRESENTATION SYSTEM USING THE PSEUDOMONAS-AERUGINOSA OUTER-MEMBRANE PROTEIN OPRF AS THE CARRIER

This study showed that the antigenicity of a malarial epitope increase d with the length of the epitope when inserted at positions aa(26) (am ine, acid position 26) and aa(196), but not at aa(213), of the Pseudom onas aeruginosa major outer membrane protein OprF (326 amino acids). I mmunization studies showed that a 19-aa epitope was significantly more immunogenic than a 7-aa epitope when inserted at aa(26) of OprF, whil e neither an 11- nor a 19-aa epitope fused to the C-terminus of glutat hione S-transferase was immunogenic.