Studies On Design And Synthesis Of Peptide Vaccines Against Schistosomiasis

Developing an effective synthetic peptide vaccine is an important strategy for the immunological control of schistosomiasis which is one of the major parasitic diseases seriously affecting human health in the world, especially in the developing countries. On the basis of the amino acid sequences of the schistosomal host-protective antigens Sm28GST and Sj26GST, four antigenic peptides, of which three (P26, P116 and P141) were derived from Sm28GST and one (J187) was derived from Sj26GST, had previously been synthesized and screened out by ELISA in our laboratory. In most cases, small synthetic peptides must be conjugated to a carrier protein to render them immunogenic. But protein carriers may cause carrier-induced toxicity and epitopic suppression, so they are undesirable for human vaccines.To avoid the use of a carrier molecule and to increase the immunogenicity of the peptide, we designed five MAP compounds containing the same peptides using the concept of multiple antigen peptide (MAP) initially described by Tam. Moreover, it is now clear in experimental animals and human beings that resistance to schistosome infection requires both humoral and cellular immunity. Therefor, an ideal synthetic peptide vaccine against schistosomiasis should have to be highly immunogenic and able to induce both T and B cell schistosome-...