CHIMERIC PEPTIDES AS IMMUNOGENS, ANTIBODIES THERETO, AND METHODS FOR IMMUNIZATION USING CHIMERIC PEPTIDES OR ANTIBODIES

摘要

The invention provides a chimeric peptide or mixture of chimeric peptides th at can be formulated as an immunizing composition and used in a method for immunization of a mammal against an internal peptide cleavage product derive d from a precursor or mature protein, for which the peptide cleavage product a nd the precursor or mature protein are self molecules. The chimeric peptide or peptides have an end-specific B cell epitope, of 2-5 amino acids, from a naturally-occurring internal peptide cleavage product of a precursor or matu re protein, as a free N- or C- terminus, fused with or without spacer residues to a T helper cell epitope derived from a living source different from that of the internal peptide cleavage product.