PROTEINACEOUS ANTIGENS WITH CONFORMATION-INDEPENDENT AND CONFORMATION-DEPENDENT DETERMINANTS

摘要

A single polypeptide antigen that includes the amino acid residue sequence and epitope of a conformation-independent antigenic determinant and the amino acid residue sequence but lacks the epitope of a conformation-dependent antigenic determinant is disclosed as are methods of its manufacture and use and articles of manufacture using the same. The uses of the pre-S(2) region polypeptide encoded by the hepatitis B virus genome as a T cell proliferating agent and as a potentiator for enhancing the humoral immune response of animals that exhibit a low humoral response to an S region-containing immunogen are also disclosed.