Dituftsin and polytuftsin induce an anti-peptide IgG response to non-immunogenic peptides in mice.

The effect of covalently attaching multiple forms of the immunomodulating tetrapeptide tuftsin to normally non-immunogenic peptides was studied in BALB/c and C57Bl/6 mice. The peptides: (NANP)3 from the Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein and peptides 136-152 and 205-213 derived from the capsid protein of foot-and-mouth disease virus were coupled to polytuftsin or dituftsin. Anti-peptide IgG titers were determined after two immunizations. All of these three non-immunogenic peptides coupled to polytuftsin or dituftsin induced anti-peptide antibody production in mice while peptides alone did not elicit IgG. In addition, a conjugate of (NANP)3 and polytuftsin with built-in glycopeptide adjuvant elicited an anti-peptide response comparable in magnitude with that of a peptide-KLH conjugate. The data suggest that when non-immunogenic peptides are synthesized in tandem with dituftsin or conjugated to polytuftsin a significant immune response to the peptides may be elicited. This approach may be employed in synthetic vaccine design.