Recognition of peptides by antibodies and investigations of affinity usingbiosensor technology

The study of peptide-antibody interactions has many applications in biology and medicine. Synthetic peptides corresponding to single protein epitopes are used instead of intact proteins as reagents for the diagnosis of viral and autoimmune diseases. Furthermore, antibodies raised against peptides ar e useful reagents for isolating and characterizing gene products. In this r eview, methods for analysing the molecular basis of peptide-antibody intera ctions are described, such as amino acid replacement studies, X-ray crystal lography of peptide-antibody complexes and biosensor technology based on su rface plasmon resonance. The importance of peptide conformation in antibody recognition is discussed, and the antigenic reactivity of epitopes in synt hetic peptides and in cognate, intact proteins is compared.