Solid-phase peptide-carrier conjugation

Abstract

Conjugation to carrier proteins is necessary for peptides to be able to induce antibody formation wheninjected into animals together with a suitable adjuvant. This is usually performed by conjugation in solutionfollowed by mixing with the adjuvant. Alternatively, the carrier may be adsorbed onto a solid supportfollowed by activation and conjugation with the peptide by solid-phase chemistry. Different reagents canbe used for conjugation through peptide functional groups (-SH, -NH 2, -COOH) and various carrierproteins may be used depending on the peptides and the intended use of the antibodies. The solid phasemay be an ion-exchange matrix, from which the conjugate can subsequently be eluted and mixed withadjuvant. Alternatively, the adjuvant aluminum hydroxide may be used as the solid-phase matrix, whereuponthe carrier is immobilized and conjugated with peptide. The resulting adjuvant-carrier-peptidecomplexes may then be used directly for immunization.