CATIONIZATION OF PROTEIN ANTIGENS .6. EFFECTS OF CATIONIZATION ON THE IMMUNOREGULATORY PROPERTIES OF A BOVINE SERUM-ALBUMIN PEPTIDE, A.A. 506-589

Cationization of bovine serum albumin (BSA) causes a profound increase in its immunogenicity. To establish if immunoregulatory properties of an immunosuppressive peptide are affected by Cationization, a BSA peptide, a.a. 506-583, was cationized and tested for its immunogenic properties. A greatly reduced amount of cationized peptide compared to native peptide was required to stimulate BSA-primed T cells to proliferate in vitro. Mice primed with the cationized peptide administered with an adjuvant responded with a significantly greater anti-BSA response than mice immunized with the native form of the peptide. In the absence of an adjuvant i.v. or i.p. administration of the native peptide was immunosuppressive, while the cationized form was immunoenhancing. Both forms of the peptide stimulated in vivo induction of L3T4+ (CD4), and Lyt-2+ (CD8) T cells. Removal of Lyt-2+ T cells from lymph node cultures following immunization with the native peptide caused a significant increase in the proliferation of the remaining T cells. This increase was not observed when the mice were immunized with the cationized peptide. No major BSA B cell determinants were present within the peptide sequence. Mice immunized with the peptide exhibited a negligible anti-BSA antibody response compared to those immunized with the whole BSA molecule. Furthermore, the peptide did not inhibit anti-BSA antibody binding to BSA. We demonstrated that Cationization modifies immunoregulatory properties of an immunosuppressive BSA-derived peptide. © 1991.