Methods for improving immunological response in vaccinated animals
First Claim
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1. A method for providing a vaccine capable of stimulating an improved immunological response to a target antigen in an animal, the method comprisingselecting a target antigen exhibiting low % predicted linear B-cell epitopes of <
- 10% predicted linear B-cell epitopes;
providing a polypeptide conjugate comprising the target antigen conjugated to a carrier polypeptide by means of a linker polypeptide exhibiting high % predicted linear B-cell epitopes of >
50% predicted linear B-cell epitopes; and
administering to the animal an immunogenic amount of a vaccine comprising the polypeptide conjugate comprising (a) the carrier polypeptide comprising an inactivated chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) enzyme;
(b) the linker polypeptide, and (c) the target antigen, wherein the carrier polypeptide does not stimulate a substantial T-cell response, andwherein the improved immunological response in the animal comprises a statistically significant faster immunological response or specific effect within four days after the first administration of the vaccine compared to a control animal immunized with target antigen and/or carrier without the linker polypeptide,wherein the % predicted linear B-cell epitopes for the target antigen is determined by(1) generating a BepiPred 1.0 predicted Linear B-cell epitope score for each amino acid in the amino acid sequence of the target antigen;
(2) counting the amino acids for which the BepiPred 1.0 predicted Linear B-cell epitope score is above a threshold value of 0.2;
(3) dividing the number of amino acids above the threshold value by the number of amino acids in the target antigen to get a fraction; and
(4) multiplying the fraction by 100 to obtain the % predicted linear B-cell epitopes for the target antigen.
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Abstract
A method is provided for increasing an immunological response to a target antigen in an animal by administering an immunogenic amount of a vaccine comprising a polypeptide conjugate comprising the target antigen conjugated to a carrier polypeptide by means of a linker polypeptide which is rich in predicted linear B-cell epitopes.
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22 Claims
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1. A method for providing a vaccine capable of stimulating an improved immunological response to a target antigen in an animal, the method comprising
selecting a target antigen exhibiting low % predicted linear B-cell epitopes of < - 10% predicted linear B-cell epitopes;
providing a polypeptide conjugate comprising the target antigen conjugated to a carrier polypeptide by means of a linker polypeptide exhibiting high % predicted linear B-cell epitopes of >
50% predicted linear B-cell epitopes; andadministering to the animal an immunogenic amount of a vaccine comprising the polypeptide conjugate comprising (a) the carrier polypeptide comprising an inactivated chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) enzyme;
(b) the linker polypeptide, and (c) the target antigen, wherein the carrier polypeptide does not stimulate a substantial T-cell response, andwherein the improved immunological response in the animal comprises a statistically significant faster immunological response or specific effect within four days after the first administration of the vaccine compared to a control animal immunized with target antigen and/or carrier without the linker polypeptide, wherein the % predicted linear B-cell epitopes for the target antigen is determined by (1) generating a BepiPred 1.0 predicted Linear B-cell epitope score for each amino acid in the amino acid sequence of the target antigen; (2) counting the amino acids for which the BepiPred 1.0 predicted Linear B-cell epitope score is above a threshold value of 0.2; (3) dividing the number of amino acids above the threshold value by the number of amino acids in the target antigen to get a fraction; and (4) multiplying the fraction by 100 to obtain the % predicted linear B-cell epitopes for the target antigen. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
- 10% predicted linear B-cell epitopes;
Specification