PEPTIDES FOR ANTI-ALLERGY TREATMENT

Abstract: Peptides of the above-mentioned sequence wherein Xaa is any amino acid residue, but most preferably Val or Ile, and their simple derivatives, including those chain-extended at the N-terminus or C-terminus, are useful in anti-allergy treatment.

Description: PEPTIDES FOR ANTI-ALLERGY TREATMENT Background of the Invention 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to peptides, believed novel per se and to their use in a vaccine against allergies. Amino acids and amino acid residues are represented herein by their standard codes as identified by the IUPAC-IUB Biochemical Nomenclature Commission and represent D and L amino acids, their analogues or derivatives. 2. Description of the related art PCT Application Publication No. WO90/15878 describes certain peptides, conjugated or otherwise rendered non-self, useful in anti-allergy treatment. These peptides are derived from or analogous to a sequence of human IgE known to represent an active site implicated in histamine release. It was found that they are effective i munogens, without causing substantial release of histamine. The structural requirements of these peptides are a cationic N-terminal head, e.g. of the sequence Lys Thr Lys and a hydrophobic C-terminal tail, e.g. of the sequence: Phe Phe Val Phe (SEQ ID NO: 1) 1 as in the decapeptide: Lys Thr Lys Gly Ser Gly Phe Phe Val Phe (SEQ ID NO: 2) 1 5 10 It is a problem to extend the range of peptides useful for an anti-allergy vaccine. Summary of the invention It has now surprisingly been found that peptides of the sequence: Phe Phe Xaa Phe (SEQ ID NO: 3) 1 where Xaa is any amino acid residue to afford some protection against challenge by allergens. Such peptides and their C- terminal and or N-terminal derivatives constitute a first aspect of the invention. In a second aspect, the invention provides conjugates of the peptides with a carrier. As used here a carrier means a moiety capable of stimulating T cell help in order to activate production of antibodies by B cells. Thirdly, the invention includes a pharmaceutical composition comprising a peptide or conjugate of the invention, together with an adjuvant. Fourthly, the invention includes the peptides and conjugates for use in the treatment of allergies. In particular it includes their use in the manufacture of a formulation for use as an anti-allergy vaccine. Where national law permits, it further includes a method of treating a patient suffering from or susceptible to an allergy which comprises administering to the patient an amount of a said peptide, preferably in the form of a conjugate,-effective to combat the allergy. The term "N-terminal derivatives thereof" is used herein to include peptides having N-terminal blocking or inactivating groups, e.g. acetyl groups as well as N-terminal short-chain amino acid or peptide "handles", of 1 to 4 amino acids in length, especially neutral residues, e.g. Gly-Ser-Gly as in the above-mentioned decapeptide or Arg or Lys. Such handle residues can themselves be N-terminally blocked. The term "C-terminal derivatives thereof" includes amides and short-chain amino acid or peptide "tails", of 1 to 4 amino acids in length, especially of neutral residues, which may themselves be C-amidated. Other inactivating groups can be used in place of amides. Other aspects of the invention are set out in the attached claims. Description of the preferred embodiments Peptides according to the present invention comprise the sequence: Phe Phe Xaa Phe (SEQ ID NO:3) Xaa can be any amino acid residue, but is preferably not a neutral hydrophobic residue other than Val or lie. More preferably X is selected from Val, lie, Asp, Gly, Lys, Arg and His. Most preferably X is Val or lie. The peptides of the invention can be synthesised by methods well known in the art such as the "F-moc" method. To conjugate the simple peptides, any of the methods of coupling and carrier proteins disclosed in the prior PCT application can be used. The carrier can itself be a peptide of from typically 9-30 amino acids. In this instance the carrier and the peptides of the invention can be synthesised together as a single entity. The conjugates can contain more than one residue of a peptide of the invention, as, for example, in branched peptides having the above-recited sequence SEQ ID NO: 3 present on arms of a branched core, e.g. of polylysine, see. e.g. J. P. Tarn, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85. 5409-5413 (1988) . The peptides can be extended at either end by "handles" or "tails" as mentioned above. These are conveniently of neutral residues, these being thought unlikely, to interfere with the hydrophobic sequence (SEQ ID NO: 3) . Alternatively, a single arginine or lysine residue at the N-terminus can be tolerated. The vaccine compositions and methods of active immunisation can be as described in the prior PCT application. Both prophylactic and therapeutic uses are envisaged for such a vaccine. The invention will now be described with reference to the following illustrative examples: EXAMPLE 1 Three short C-amidated peptides were synthesised, by the F.moc procedure, two of these incorporating an extra (glycine) residue at their C-termini (for technical reasons), viz: F92 Gly Ser Gly Phe Phe Gly NH 2 (C-amide of SEQ ID NO: 4) F93 Phe Phe Val Phe Gly-NH 2 (C-amide of SEQ ID NO: 5) F94 Lys Thr Lys Gly Ser-NH 2 (C-amide of SEQ ID NO: 6) The level of anti-allergy protection induced in rats by immunisation with the peptides was determined. The peptides were conjugated to PPD (purified protein derivative of tuberculin) by adding 3mg of peptide in 1ml water to 5mg of PPD in 1ml water. 1ml of glu araldehyde (2lmM) was then added slowly dropwise over a period of 10 minutes with gentle mixing. -The mixture was then left at 4°C for 2hr with gentle mixing. The conjugate was then dialysed against several changes of phosphate buffered saline (pH 7.2) and the volume adjusted to give a peptide concentration of lmg/ml. All peptides were prepared for use by vortexing 2 parts of peptide conjugate with 1 part Al(OH) 3 -and incubating at 20°C for 30 minutes; this procedure was used in all subsequent injections. Six istar rats were injected subcutaneously with 0.2ml of the above mixture on days 0, 14 and 28. On day 28, three rats were also sensitised by injection (subcutaneous) of ovalbumin-β- pertussis mixture in the standard manner. These three groups of three rats were subsequently challenged with allergen on day 49, by intravenous injection of ovalbumin (5mg) and cardiac bleeds taken, for histamine assay. Results (following challenge with ovalbumin) : Immunising Rat Histamine Cyanosis Peptide No. released Score (ng/ml) Pre- ■challenge Post-challenge F92 1 288 7,232 2 2 320 5,280 2 3 288 832 5 Mean 299 4,448 3 F93 1 224 1,200 0 2 288 1,136 3 3 256 704 2 Mean 256 1, 103 1.7 F94 1 256 2,432 3 2 480 3,488 2 3 448 10,244 3 Mean 395 5,388 2.7 Cyanosis was scored by examining the colour of the rats ' ears after ovalbumin injection and grading on a 0-5 scale wherein: 0 = pink and 5 = dark purple. A low number indicates efficacy. The peptide of the invention (F93) gave markedly better results than the other two. EXAMPLE 2 Conjugates of peptides having the general formula Gly Phe Phe Xaa Phe - NH 2 were prepared. Gly was incorporated merely as a spacer to facilitate attachment of the peptide to the carrier protein keyhole limpet haemocyanin during production of the peptide using the F. moc procedure. 20 peptides were prepared corresponding to each possible substitution of Xaa with a naturally occurring amino acid residue. Rather than testing individual conjugates in individual animals the peptides were pooled and antibodies were raised against each pool in rats . Membership of a pool was determined by the comparative physico- chemical properties of each peptide. The pools were as follows: i) hydrophobic, ii) neutral, iii) acidic, and iv) basic. Male Wistar rats were immunised with an individual pool and serum was taken from the rats six and eight weeks thereafter. The serum was tested for anti- (Lys Thr Lys Gly Ser Gly Phe Phe Val Phe - NH 2 ) IgG(Fc) antibodies (anti-C amidated SEQ ID NO:2 antibodies) . High levels of production of these antibodies indicated that the respective pool included at least one peptide which is an effective immunogen and this peptide could be useful for an anti-allergy vaccine. Results: (Background O.D. (n=10) = 0.244, determined with pre- immune sera) Peptide 6 weeks 1:4 Standard 8 Weeks 1: Standard GFFXF Sub¬ Mean O.D. Error Mean O.D. Error stitution (n=2) (n=2) Hydrophobic 0.572 0.268 0.599 0.245 W Hydrophobic 1.551 0.015 1.601 0.025 V Acidic 0.987 0.491 1.314 0.126 (pooled) D,E Basic 1.472 0.019 1.358 0.009 (pooled) K,R,H Neutral 1.039 0.109 0.995 0.134 (pooled) S,T,Y,N,Q, C,G Hydrophobic 1.127 0.209 0.689 0.029 (pooled) A,L,1,P,F,M It is evident from the above table of results that each pool (including the acidic and basic pools of negatively and positively charged amino-acids respetively) was capable of eliciting antibodies against C amidated SEQ ID NO:2. This is surprising since Val, which is an uncharged hydrophobic amino acid residue, is found in SEQ ID No. 2. The following claims define some important aspects of the invention, but do not purport to include every conceivable aspect for which protection might be sought and should not be construed as detracting from the generality of the inventive concepts hereinbefore described. SEQUENCE LISTING (1) GENERAL INFORMATION: (i) APPLICANT: (A) NAME: PEPTIDE THERAPEUTICS LIMITED (B) STREET: 321 CAMBRIDGE SCIENCE PARK (C) CITY: CAMBRIDGE (D) STATE: CAMBRIDGE (E) COUNTRY: ENGLAND (F) POSTAL CODE (ZIP) : CB4 4WG (G) TELEPHONE: 01223 423333 (H) TELEFAX: 01223 423111 (ii) TITLE OF INVENTION: Peptides For Anti-Allergy Treatment (iii) NUMBER OF SEQUENCES: 9 (iv) COMPUTER READABLE FORM: (A) MEDIUM TYPE: Floppy disk (B) COMPUTER: IBM PC compatible (C) OPERATING SYSTEM: PC-DOS/MS-DOS (D) SOFTWARE: Patentin Release #1.0, Version #1.30 (EPO) (vi) PRIOR APPLICATION DATA: (A) APPLICATION NUMBER: GB 9422294.0 (B) FILING DATE: 04-NOV-1994 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO: 1: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 4 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (C) STRANDEDNESS : single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 1: Phe Phe Val Phe 1 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO: 2: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 10 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 2: Lys Thr Lys Gly Ser Gly Phe Phe Val Phe 1 5 10 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO: 3: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 4 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 3: Phe Phe Xaa Phe 1 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO: 4: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 6 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide ( i) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 4: Gly Ser Gly Phe Phe Gly 1 5 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ.ID NO: 5: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 5 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 5: Phe Phe Val Phe Gly 1 5 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO: 6: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 5 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 6: Lys Thr Lys Gly Ser 1 5 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO: 7: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 16 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide (Xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 7: Glu Lys Lys lie Ala Lys Met Glu Lys Ala Ser Ser Val Phe Asn Val 1 5 10 15 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO: 8: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 22 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide (Xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 8: Phe Asn Asn Phe Thr Val Ser Phe Val Val Leu Arg Val Pro Lys Val 1 5 10 15 Ser Ala Ser His Leu Glu 20 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO: 9: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 14 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 9: Gin Tyr lie Lys Ala Asn Ser Lys Phe lie Gly lie Thr Glu 1 5 10

Claims: Claims 1. Peptides of the general formula Phe Phe Xaa Phe (SEQ ID NO: 3) or an N-terminal and/or C-terminal derivative thereof, wherein Xaa is any amino acid residue and the derivative is a terminally blocked or inactivated peptide or has up to 4 additional amino acids at each terminus. 2. Peptides of the general formula Phe Phe Xaa Phe (SEQ ID NO: 3) or an N-terminal and/or C-terminal derivative thereof, wherein Xaa is any amino acid residue and any one of the Phe residues is replaced by a Trp or Tyr. 3. Peptides according to claim 1 or 2 wherein Xaa is selected from the group of amino acid residues which comprises Val, lie, Asp, Glu, Lys, Arg and His. 4. Peptides according to any preceding claim where Xaa is selected from the group of amino acid residues which comprises Val and lie. 5. Peptides according to any preceding claim wherein the additional amino acid(s) are either neutral residue (s) or a single N-terminal arginine or lysine residue. 6. Conjugates of peptides according to any preceding claim to a carrier. 7. Conjugates according to claim 6 wherein the carrier is a protein or wherein two or more residues of a peptide according to claim 1 or 2 are linked to a branched core. 8. Peptides according to any one of claims 1 to 5 or conjugates according to claim 6 or 7 for use in anti-allergy treatment. 9. Use of peptides according to any one of claims 1 to 5 conjugates according to claim 6 or 7 for the manufacture of a formulation for use in anti-allergy treatment. 10. A pharmaceutical composition comprising a conjugate claimed in claim 6 or 7, together with an adjuvant. 11. A method of treating a patient suffering from or susceptible to an allergy which comprises administering to the patient an amount of a peptide according to any one of claims 1 to 5 preferably in the form of a conjugate, effective to combat the allergy. 12. A process for synthesising a peptide according to any one of claims 1 to 5 which comprises synthetically combining amino acids in the sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 3. 13. A process for synthesising a conjugate according to claim 6 or 7 which comprises covalently binding a carrier to the protein product of the process of claim 12. 14. Conjugates according to claim 6 or 7 wherein the carrier is KLH, tetanus-toxoid or PPD. 15. Conjugates according to claim 6 or 7 wherein the carrier is selected from the group consisting of : i) Glu Lys Lys lie Ala Lys Met Glu Ala Ser Ser Val Phe Asn Val (SEQ ID NO:7) . ii) Phe Asn Asn Phe Thr Val Ser Phe Val Val Leu Arg Val Pro Lys Val Ser Ala Ser His Leu Glu (SEQ ID NO:8). iii) Gin Tyr lie Lys Ala Asn Ser Lys Phe lie Gly lie Thr Glu (SEQ ID NO: 9) .

Inventors: LEWIN IAN VICTOR, STANWORTH DENIS RAYMOND, LEWIN, IAN, VICTOR, STANWORTH, DENIS, RAYMOND
Applicants: LEWIN IAN VICTOR, PEPTIDE THERAPEUTICS LTD, STANWORTH DENIS RAYMOND, LEWIN, IAN, VICTOR, PEPTIDE THERAPEUTICS LIMITED, STANWORTH, DENIS, RAYMOND
Application year: 1995
Main classification: C07K7
IPC codes: A61K38, A61K39, A61P37, C07K7