What to expect of a good vaccine and how to achieve it

Epitope mapping: synthetic approaches to the understanding of molecular recognition in the immune system

Progress in the field of immunochemistry is rapidly increasing due to very efficient methods of epitope mapping. Experimental results on the allele-specific sequence motifs of MHC-binding peptides allow the exact forecast of T-cell epitopes and, in combination with B-cell prediction methods and synthetic adjuvant systems, fully synthetic vaccines may be constructed. Methods of multiple peptide synthesis are of particular use for such constructs and for the fine mapping of monoclonal antibodies or sera of patients. Peptide libraries, containing hundred thousands of different oligopeptides are made available for novel screening procedures. These techniques and their applications in various fields are summarized and discussed with respect to efficiency and productivity.

Development and application of synthetic peptides as vaccines

Vaccination against bacterial and viral diseases has been one of the major achievements in medicine and immunology since the beginning of this century. Extensive vaccination programs have been able to control or, in the case of smallpox, virtually wipe out some of the most dangerous infectious diseases e.g. poliomyelitis, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria and tetanus. However, as this success has been limited mainly to the developed, affluent countries, infectious diseases still remain the worlds largest health problem. Furthermore, vaccines against human parasites are non-existent. Recent advances in immunology and molecular biology including recombinant DNA technology have provided the basis for new approaches to vaccine development.