Twenty-five patients with high-risk resected stages IIB, III, and IV melanoma were immunized with a vaccine consisting of the minimal epitope, immunodominant 9-amino acid peptide derived from the MART-1 tumor antigen (AAGIGILTV) complexed with incomplete Freund's adjuvant. The last three patients received the MART-1(27-35) peptide with incomplete Freund's adjuvant mixed with CRL 1005, a block c...

To develop a peptide vaccine for cancer patients with the HLA-A26 allele, which is a minor population worldwide, we investigated the immunological responses of HLA-A26(+) /A26(+) cancer patients to four different CTL epitope peptides under personalized peptide vaccine regimens. In personalized peptide vaccine regimens, two to four peptides showing positive peptide-specific IgG responses in pre-...

Introduction: Vaccine studies against Pseudomonas aeruginosa have often focused on outer membrane proteins (OPRs) due to their potent stimulation of the immune response. Using major outer membrane proteins of cell walls (mOMPs) of P. aeruginosa and other Gram-negative bacteria actively stimulate the immune system without any toxic side effects. Moreover, these antigens show immunological cross-...

Background and Aims: Influenza vaccine production process is time-consuming with little-to-no cross-protection which requires annual adjustment. The construction of a universal vaccine to deal with the pandemics and epidemics which occasionally threat human population is the aim of many researches worldwide. Today, influenza vaccines are mostly against two major antigenic proteins, hemagglutini...

The interferon gamma, enzyme-linked immunospot (IFN-γ ELISpot) assay is widely used to identify viral antigen-specific T cells is frequently employed to quantify T cell responses in HIV vaccine studies. It can be used to define T cell epitope specificities using panels of peptide antigens, but with sample and cost constraints there is a critical need to improve the efficiency of epitope mapping...

Peptides are of great interest to be used as vaccine antigens due to their safety, ease of manufacturing and specificity in generating immune response. There have been massive discoveries of peptide antigens over the past decade. However, peptides alone are poorly immunogenic, which demand co-administration with strong adjuvant to enhance their immunogenicity. Recently, fibril-forming peptides ...

Prediction of peptide binding to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules is a basis for anticipating T-cell epitopes, as well as epitope discovery-driven vaccine development. In the human, MHC molecules are known as human leukocyte antigens (HLAs) and are extremely polymorphic. HLA polymorphism is the basis of differential peptide binding, until now limiting the practical use of curren...