Identifying T-cell stimulating fragments of antigenic proteins or peptides, useful as immunostimulants for vaccination or desensitization

摘要

A method for identifying T-cell stimulating protein fragments, is new. Identification of T cell stimulatory protein fragments (I) comprises incubating a suspension containing T cells with at least one fragment (of 8-30 amino acids (aa)) from an antigenic protein or peptide, then determining, by flow cytometry, either at least one T-cell cytokine and/or at least one activation marker (both cytokines and markers being intracellular or on the cell surface). Fragments that cause T cell activation are selected. Initially the sequence of an antigen is determined and the sequence divided into fragments which are then synthesized or produced by cleavage of the antigen. An Independent claim is also included for production of T-cell stimulatory (I) identified this way.