UTILIZATION OF MHC CLASS II BINDING MOTIFS IN IMMUNIZATION TO PRODUCE IMMUNE SERUM, MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES AND VACCINES
This invention provides compositions and methods for raising humoral antibody responses. The compositions are peptides containing major histocompatibility Class II antigen binding motifs (ABM) either native or inserted into the peptide sequence. The ABM can be at the carboxy or amino terminus of the peptide and is shown to provide a T cell epitope thereby assuring adequate T cell help. Associated with the ABM is an extended peptide that rests outside the Class II molecule and that is recognized by the B cell, a B cell epitope. This B cell epitope can be a contiguous peptide sequence either at the amino or carboxy terminus. The extended peptide can be irrelevant and can serve as a bridge to an attached B cell epitope such as a hapten. These haptens can be any chemical structure such as a fluorescein molecule or a carbohydrate. The compositions and methods of this invention provide inexpensive vaccines to raise antibodies.