VACCINES AGAINST PATHOGENS CHARACTERIZED BY SEROLOGICAL CROSS-REACTION BUT LACKING CROSS-PROTECTION

摘要

A vaccine against pathogens which are characterised by serological cross-reactivity accompanying lack of cross-protection, such as parasites within the Phylum Apicomplexa. The vaccine comprises as an immunogen an amino acid sequence from a conserved, non-immunoreactive region of an antigen of the pathogen. The immunogenic sequence is identified by selecting a region of an antigen from the pathogenic organism, binding a series of overlapping sequences from said region to solid phase supports and probing said sequences for reactivity with test sera from an animal infected with said pathogen, and selecting one or more sequences on the basis of failure to bind antibody in test sera.