Localization of the continuous allergenic sites of ragweed allergen Ra3 by a comprehensive synthetic strategy.

A comprehensive synthetic approach, previously introduced by this laboratory for the localization of the full profile of the continuous antigenic sites on proteins, was applied here to localize the continuous sites of ragweed allergen, Ra3, that are recognized by human anti-Ra3 IgE antibodies. The following 10 uniform and overlapping peptides were synthesized and purified: 1-15, 11-25, 21-35, 31-45, 41-55, 51-65, 61-75, 71-85, 81-95 and 91-101. Quantitative radiometric titrations of protein and peptide adsorbents with human IgE, established the full profile of allergenic (IgE binding) sites on Ra3. It was found that Ra3 has four continuous allergenic sites. Antibodies prepared against the IgE binding peptides bound to native Ra3. The findings are briefly discussed in relation to other protein antigenic structures and in terms of design of vaccines using synthetic sites.