Influence of CONH2 or COOH as C-terminus groups on the antigenic characters of immunogenic peptides.

The influence of the presence of a terminal COOH or CONH2 on the antigenic characters of synthetic immunogenic peptides has been studied on a streptococcal synthetic vaccine model. The obtained results show that when a peptide amide is used, the antibodies raised specifically against the amide group recognize neither free COOH nor the parent protein. The carboxamide group is thus unsuitable as was postulated for raising antibodies which recognize the peptide bond.