Subscribe to Syndicate

Anna Katharina Dehof

The disialoganglioside GalAcbeta1-4(NeuAcalpha2-8NeuAcalpha2-3)Galbeta1-4Glcbeta1-1Cer (GD2) is expressed on various tumors, including neuroblastoma, and was defined as a relevant tumor antigen. The monoclonal anti-GD2 antibody 14.18 is widely used for diagnostic purposes in neuroblastoma, and in its mouse/human chimeric form (ch14.18) now enters passive immunotherapeutic regimens in phase II clinical trials. This study aimed to generate structural mimics of the 14.18 epitope of GD2.
Disialoganglioside GD2, a relevant tumor antigen, is overexpressed on numerous malignancies as melanomas, leptomeningeal cancers, osteosarcomas and neuroblastomas. The chimeric anti-GD2 antibody ch14.18 is presently applied in clinical trials for targeting GD2 overexpressing advanced melanoma and osteosarcoma, as well as neuroblastoma. For developing an active immunotherapy, we defined peptide mimics of the 14.18 epitope on GD2. By biopanning a random peptide phage display library with the antibody, thirteen GD2 mimotope candidates could be identified.
Numerous applications in Computational Biology process molecular structures and hence require not only reliable atomic cordinates, but also correct bond order information. Regrettably, this information is not always provided in molecular databases like the Cambridge Structural Database or the Protein Data Bank. Very different strategies have been applied to derive bond order information, most of them relying on the correctness of the atom coordinates. We extended a different ansatz proposed by Wang et al.

Pages