Synthetic carriers: sequential oligopeptide carriers SOCn-I and SOCn-II as an innovative and multifunctional approach.

Nowadays, the use of synthetic carriers as biochemical reagents and immunogens is entering a new phase. The multimeric nature of these constructs, the unambiguous composition and the ease, reliability and versatility of their production, make this type of carriers well-suited to various biotechnological and biochemical applications for diagnostic purposes, protein mimetics, antiviral agents, vaccines, drug and gene delivery vehicles. This review aims to briefly summarize the different types of synthetic carriers currently in use and will be focused on an innovative type of multifunctional helicoid carrier-foldamer, named SOC(n)-I, II, which was successfully developed in our laboratory. Our concept was to construct an artificial template with structural rigidity and regularity, so as the peptide epitopes/pharmacophore groups could be anchored without any conformational restriction and steric hindrance as demonstrated by conformational studies using (1)H-NMR, CD and FT-IR. SOC(n)-I,II were used as antigenic substrates in developing immunoassays of high sensitivity, specificity and reproducibility, as well as potent immunogens to generate site-specific antibodies. To this end, we emphasize on the application of SOC(n) carriers covalently bearing a 'built-in' adjuvant, for the preparation of totally synthetic peptide-based vaccines for human use.