Antigenic epitopes from EBV gp350/220 and uses thereof

摘要

The present invention relates to a peptide comprising (A) (i) a first domain comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 60% sequence similarity with the sequence PDDRTLQ (SEQ ID NO:1); and (ii) a second domain covalently linked to the first domain and comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 60% sequence similarity with the sequence QNPVYLIPETVPYIKWDN (SEQ ID NO:2) or (B) (i) a first domain comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 60% sequence similarity with the sequence GSAKPGNGSYF (SEQ ID NO: 41); and (ii) a second domain covalently linked to the first domain, said second domain comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 60% sequence similarity with the sequence SVKTEMLGNEID (SEQ ID NO: 42), wherein the peptide binds to monoclonal antibody clone 72A1. This peptide may be useful for inducing the production of neutralizing antibodies against a gp350-expressing herpesvirus, such as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), for example for immunizing or vaccinating an animal against a gp350-expressing herpesvirus, as well as for detecting the presence or absence neutralizing anti-gp350-expressing herpesvirus antibodies in a sample.