Chemical Platforms for Peptide Vaccine Constructs

Knowledge of the sequences and structures of proteins from pathogenic microorganisms has been put to great use in the field of protein chemistry for the development of peptide-based vaccines. These vaccine constructs include chemically tailored, shorter peptidic fragments that can induce high immunogenicity, thus shunning the allergenic and nonimmunogenic part of the antigens. Based on this concept, several different chemistries have been pursued to obtain novel platforms onto which antigenic epitopes can be tethered, with the aim to achieve a higher antibody response. In this regard, here we attempt to summarize the chemical strategies developed for the presentation of peptide epitopes.