Patent ID: 8275595
Filing Date: 2012-09-25
Classification: C07K,C12N,G16B

Abstract:
1. A computer-assisted method of determining whether a compound is immunogenic, the method requiring use of a programmed computer comprising a processor and an input device, the method comprising: (a) providing a pathogenesis factor (PF), or a fragment of a PF, comprising a region with low polymorphism, wherein the region is in an active conformation; (b) obtaining data on the region in the active conformation, wherein the data can be used to determine the three-dimensional structure of the region in the active conformation; (c) inputting to the input device the data; (d) determining, using the processor, the three-dimensional structure of the region in the active conformation; (e) designing a compound comprising a domain that includes at least one epitope that is likely to induce the production in a mammal of an antibody that binds to the region in the active conformation; (f) producing the compound; and (g) determining whether the compound elicits an antibody response in a mammalian host, wherein an antibody of the response binds to the region in the active conformation.