ABSTRACT
The definition of epitopes for human B and T cells is fundamental for the understanding of the immune response mechanism and its role in the prevention and cause of human disease. This understanding can be applied to the design of diagnostics and synthetic vaccines. In the past few years, rapid advances have added new dimensions to the experimental strategies used to identify and characterize the binding of ligands (antigens) to receptors (antibodies). Mario Geyson
pioneered the concept that short peptides bearing critical binding residues (mimotopes) can chemically mimic the folded antigenic determinants on proteins (epitopes). And the idea that the noncovalent bonds formed between a few critical residues from an epitope and its binding molecule may make a major contribution to the total energy of binding. Before going into detail about mimotopes, their discovery, and potential uses, we must first acquire a more detailed understanding of epitopes.
