Method For Identifying MHC-Presented Peptide Epitopes for T Cells

Tech ID: 03-01

Summary - Researchers at National Jewish Health have developed a method to identify peptides that can combine with a known MHC molecule to create a ligand for a known T cell. The method is composed of three parts:

  • A method for the display of functional MHC molecules with covalently attached antigenic peptides on the surface of baculovirus or baculovirus-infected cells.
  • A method for the identification and isolation of baculovirus or baculovirus-infected insect cells bearing a displayed MHC/peptide combination that is recognized by a particular T cell antigen receptor.
  • A method for producing libraries of baculovirus or baculovirus- infected cells displaying a particular MHC molecule or other potential antigenic peptides

Potential Applications - Useful method for the development of immunotherapeutic products where the identification of peptide epitopes for T cells is required.

Advantages of Invention

  • Has all the advantages of phage display but also,
  • Unlike phage systems, large eukaryotic multi-chain proteins with disulfide bonds such as MHC molecules can display well.
  • Very large libraries can be achieved

State of Development - Using human or mouse MHC Class II or MHC Class I molecules carrying covalently attached peptides, the inventors have successfully confirmed the feasibility of the method described above.

Patent - U.S. Patent Application # 20040110253; International Patent Application #WO 04/015395.

Publication - Wang et al. Proc Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 2005 Feb 15; 102(7):2476-81 . Crawford et al. Public Library of Science (PloS) Biology (April 2004) 2(4): 523-533 .

Inventors - John Kappler, PhD, Philippa Marrack, PhD, and Frances Crawford.

Licensing Status - This technology is available for licensing.

For Further Information, Contact:
Emmanuel Hilaire, PhD
Licensing Associate
Intellectual Property and Technology Commercialization Program
National Jewish Health
1400 Jackson Street, Room M206a
Denver, CO 80206
Voice: (303) 398-1053
Fax: (303) 270-2352
hilairee@njc.org

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