Recent progress in peptide and glycopeptide chemistry make the preparation
of peptide and glycopeptide dendrimers of acceptable purity, with designed
structural and immunochemical properties reliable. New methodologies using
unprotected peptide building blocks have been developed to further increase
possibilities of their design and improve their preparation and separation
. Sophisticated design of peptide and glycopeptide dendrimers has led to th
eir use as antigens and immunogens, for serodiagnosis and other biochemical
uses including drug delivery. Dendrimers bearing peptide with predetermine
d secondary structures are useful tools in protein de novo design. This art
icle covers synthesis and applications of multiple antigen peptides (MAPs),
multiple antigen glycopeptides (MAGs), multiple antigen peptides based on
sequential oligopeptide carriers (MAP-SOCs), glycodendrimers and template-a
ssembled synthetic proteins (TASPs). Part I deals with the development of v
arious structural forms of MAPs as well as their application as antigens, i
mmunogens, and for immunodiagnostic and biochemical purposes. Copyright (C)
1999 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.