IDENTIFICATION OF SHORT PEPTIDE SEQUENCES REPRESENTING EPITOPES OF GLYCOPROTEIN G OF HSV-2 USING A PHAGE PEPTIDE DISPLAY LIBRARY FOR USE IN AN ANTI-gG2 ELISA

摘要

The invention provides a polypeptide consisting of 3 to 20 amino acid residues, or a peptido mimetic analogue thereof wherein the analogue is at least partly non-peptide in nature and the analogue has a length equivalent to that determined by 3 to 20 amino acid residues; which is a sequence not naturally occurring in the native sequence of the HSV-2 gG protein; and which has the following sequence SEQ ID:1 (X)n- alpha - beta - gamma -(Y)m or SEQ ID:2 (X)n- delta - epsilon - phi -(Y)m wherein n=0 or an integer; m=0 or an integer; n+m T>S>Q>N; beta is H; gamma is R or may be susbtituted in order of preference by R>A or L>T or P; delta is T or may be substituted in order of preference by E>L; epsilon is P; phi is L or may be substituted in order of preference by B or Y; and X or Y are positively charged, negatively charged or neutral amino acids or peptido mimetic analogues thereof; and antibodies raised thereto; and prophylactic and therapeutic and diagnostic uses thereof relating to HSV-2 infection.