ARTIFICIAL PROTEIN VACCINES WITH PREDETERMINED TERTIARY STRUCTURE - APPLICATION TO ANTI-HIV-1 VACCINE DESIGN

A successful approach to the development of a safe and effective synth etic vaccine requires that different B and T cell epitopes of the infe ctious agent be included in the vaccine construction. In this paper we suggest a new approach to vaccine design in the form of an artificial protein with a predetermined tertiary structure (PTS vaccines). Based on B and T cell epitope properties, we substantiate the possible use for vaccine construction of one well-known protein spatial motif-the f our-alpha-helix bundle. Antigenic determinants of cellular immunity (a mphipathic alpha-helices) and humoral immunity (flexible hydrophilic l oop regions) are used as blocks for vaccine design. General principles of PTS vaccine construction have been applied to anti-HIV-1 vaccine d esign.