Exploiting molecular mimicry to broaden the immune response to carbohydrate antigens for vaccine development

Peptide mimetics of carbohydrates represent an alternative approach to indu ce anti-carbohydrate responses. Depending on their formulation. peptide mim etics can mediate T-independent or T-dependent responses. Multivalent pepti de mimeotopes can induce high IgM/IgG ratios. as non-conjugated carbohydrat es do. Here we observe that immunization with multivalent peptide mimeotope conjugated to BSA enhances carbohydrate reactive antibodies in Balb/c mice and sid mice, with IgG1 greater than IgG2a, in sid mice. These results sug gest that mimeotope-conjugate formulations might augment carbohydrate-speci fic immune responses in immune-compromised hosts. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.