POLYPEPTIDE ANTIGEN FORMING A STRUCTURE MIMING THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OF GP41.

摘要

Polypeptides (I) containing fragments of the HIV gp41 protein and able to adopt a alpha -helical conformation are new. Polypeptides of formula (I) containing fragments of the HIV gp41 protein and able to adopt a alpha -helical conformation are new, where (N-S1)n-C-(S2-N)m (I) N = amino acids (aa) 30-77 of gp41; C = aa 117-154 of gp41; S1 and S2 = aa sequence such that (I) adopts an alpha -helical conformation, or may be absent; n and m = 0-1, but not both 0 The alpha -helical conformation is determined by the program SOPMA using the parameters: number of conformational states = 4; limit of similarity = 8 and width of window = 70. Independent claims are also included for the following: (1) Conjugate (II) of (I) with a carrier protein or peptide; (2) DNA sequence (III) that encodes (I) or (II); (3) Vector that contains (III); (4) Host cell containing the vector of (3); and (5) Preparation of polypeptides by expression from cells of (4).