Van Regenmortel M H
Laboratoire d'Immunochimie, CNRS, Strasbourg, France.
Ann Biol Clin (Paris). 1993;51(1):39-41.
Although most antigenic determinants of proteins are discontinuous, it is nevertheless possible to mimic such epitopes by means of linear, synthetic peptides. When such peptides are found to cross-react with antiprotein antibodies or when they are able to induce antibodies that cross-react with the parent protein, the peptides are labelled continuous epitopes. Many algorithms have been developed to predict the location of continuous epitopes in proteins, but their rate of successful prediction is not very high. The use of synthetic peptides corresponding to a single continuous epitope increases the specificity of an immunoassay in the same way that monoclonal antibodies recognizing a single epitope do compared to polyclonal antiserum. When used in solid phase assays, the peptides can be adsorbed directly to the plastic of microtiter plates or they can be used as peptide carrier conjugates. In the case of viral proteins or autoimmune antigens that are difficult to purify and prepare in large amounts, there is considerable advantage in using synthetic peptides instead of the intact protein. Several examples of the use of peptides in the diagnosis of viral and autoimmune diseases will be presented.
尽管蛋白质的大多数抗原决定簇是不连续的，但通过线性合成肽仍有可能模拟此类表位。当发现此类肽与抗蛋白质抗体发生交叉反应，或者它们能够诱导与亲本蛋白质发生交叉反应的抗体时，这些肽就被标记为连续表位。已经开发了许多算法来预测蛋白质中连续表位的位置，但其成功预测率不是很高。与识别单个表位的单克隆抗体相比，使用对应于单个连续表位的合成肽以同样的方式提高了免疫测定的特异性，而多克隆抗血清则不然。当用于固相测定时，肽可以直接吸附到微量滴定板的塑料上，或者它们可以用作肽载体缀合物。对于难以大量纯化和制备的病毒蛋白或自身免疫抗原，使用合成肽代替完整蛋白具有相当大的优势。将介绍使用肽诊断病毒和自身免疫疾病的几个例子。
