期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：1992
卷号：89
期号：17
页码：8347-8350
DOI：10.1073/pnas.89.17.8347
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：Any effect of serum on the antigenicity of peptides is potentially relevant to their use as immunogens in vivo. Here we demonstrate that serum contains distinct proteases that can increase or decrease the antigenicity of peptides. By using a functional assay, we show that a serum component other than beta 2-microglobulin enhances the presentation of ovalbumin peptides produced by cyanogen bromide cleavage. Three features of this serum activity implicate proteolysis: it is temperature dependent, it results in increased antigenicity in a low molecular weight peptide fraction, and it is inhibited by the protease inhibitor leupeptin. Conversely, presentation of the synthetic peptide OVA-(257-264) is inhibited by serum. This inhibition is unaffected by leupeptin but is blocked by bestatin, a protease inhibitor with distinct substrate specificities. Implications for peptide-based vaccine design and immunotherapy are discussed.
