SYNTHETIC PEPTIDE COMBINATORIAL LIBRARIES (SPCLS) - IDENTIFICATION OFTHE ANTIGENIC DETERMINANT OF BETA-ENDORPHIN RECOGNIZED BY MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY-3E7

The use of synthetic peptide combinatorial libraries (SPCLs), each com posed of tens of millions of peptides, is described here for the ident ification of bioactive peptides. The identification of optimal peptide sequences is achieved through the screening of SPCLs in solution, eac h element of which is composed of more than 10(5) nonsupport-bound pep tides in approximately equimolar representation, along with an iterati ve synthesis and screening process. Using an SPCL composed in total of 52 128 400 nonacetylated hexapeptides, along with an iterative select ion process based on competitive ELISA, we identified the antigenic de terminant of beta-endorphin recognized by monoclonal antibody (mAb) 3E 7. These results will be compared with the results found by others inv estigating mAb 3E7 using different peptide library approaches.