COMPOUNDS COMPRISING A REPRESENTATIVE OF A B-CELL EPITOPE COUPLED TO A REPRESENTATIVE OF A HELPER T-CELL EPITOPE AND VACCINES THEREFROM

摘要

The present invention provides novel compositions which are useful as antigens in vaccines for eliciting a strong protective immune response against a pathogenic agent in a host. The said compositions comprise a compound representing a B cell epitope which is an antigen from a pathogenic agent or an antigenic sub-part thereof and a compound representing a T helper cell epitope which is a sub-part of an antigen from a pathogenic agent characterized in that the compound representing the T helper cell epitope contains information for carrier function but not for epitope suppressive function. The invention also relates to processes for the preparation of the said compositions, to vaccines comprising the same and to the use of these compositions and vaccines for providing protective immunity against a pathogenic agent. Furthermore the present invention relates to methods for eliciting a protective immune response against a pathogenic agent in a host and to methods for determining whether a compound representing the T helper cell epitope contains information for carrier function but not for epitope suppressive function.