Abstract
The latent membrane protein 2 (LMP2) is expressed in EBV-associated tumours. LMP2 is a target of HLA-A2 restricted EBV-specific CTL responses and consequently it may represent a good target for specific CTL-based immunotherapies. However, the efficacy of such therapy is limited by the poor immunogenicity of the protein that induces weak cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses directed against the CLGGLLTMV (CLG) epitope. Indeed, the CLG peptide presents low affinity for HLA-A2 and does not produce stable complexes. Therefore we synthesized and tested CLG-dimeric analogues with the purpose of characterizing new compounds with the capacity to bind HLA-A2 molecules. By these studies we have identified a few peptides which, compared to the natural epitope, showed higher affinity for HLA-A2 molecules and superior capacity to form a complex. These dimeric peptides may have the potential to induce efficient CTL responses directed to the natural epitope. (C) 2000 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 593-598 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry |
Volume | 35 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 2000 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Financial support of this work by Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica (Cofinanziamento Progetto Chimica dei Composti Organici di Interesse Biologico), Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Progetto AIDS) is gratefully acknowledged.
Keywords
- Dimeric analogues
- Epstein-Barr virus
- Immunogenic peptides
- Segment condensation
- Solid phase synthesis