Elsevier

Molecular Immunology

Volume 30, Issue 8, June 1993, Pages 733-739
Molecular Immunology

Redistribution of a murine humoral immune response following removal of an immunodominant B cell epitope from a recombinant fusion protein

https://doi.org/10.1016/0161-5890(93)90144-ZGet rights and content

Abstract

Immunization of different mice strains with a recombinant fusion protein composed of the vector-encoded N-terminal leader peptide CroLac (containing lambda Cro and Lad fragments) and a part of the transmembrane protein of HIV-1 (gp41) led to a high anti-CroLac humoral immune response. A detailed analysis of this response revealed the presence of an immunodominant, linear B cell epitope localized near the C-terminus of the CroLac fragment. The immune response seemed to be biased towards this epitope since few or no monoclonal antibodies (mAb) could be generated against the remaining part of CroLac and the gp41 fragment. Upon removal of the immunodominant region from the fusion protein the immune response was redirected and spread over the previously non-immunogenic regions. Consequently, we report a model system in which an immunodominant B cell epitope biases the immune response away from less immunogenic epitopes on the same molecule.

References (20)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (22)

  • Engineering filamentous phage carriers to improve focusing of antibody responses against peptides

    2010, Vaccine
    Citation Excerpt :

    Furthermore, it is not clear whether Ab responses elicited by the carrier affect or skew the Ab response against the targeted antigen. Several studies have shown that altering an immunodominant epitope (e.g., by point mutation or glycosylation) can redirect Ab responses to other epitopes on a peptide or protein [1,5–8] and can affect neutralizing activity [9]. However, to our knowledge no studies have addressed the possibility of altering a carrier protein's epitopes to improve the Ab response to an associated hapten, peptide or carbohydrate antigen.

  • Vaccination of mice with plasmids expressing processed capsid protein of foot-and-mouth disease virus-Importance of dominant and subdominant epitopes for antigenicity and protection

    2007, Vaccine
    Citation Excerpt :

    In parallel with variations in the G–H loop extensive variation in a discontinuous epitope (site D) has been observed [26]. Previous studies have shown that removing dominant epitopes can redirect the immune response towards less dominant epitopes [4,27]. In this study we have selectively modified recombinant FMDV antigen at two of the most variable and antigenic epitopes on the virus particle, and studied the influence of these changes on the immune response.

  • The evolution within us

    2015, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text