Patent ID: 8313894

Claim:
A method of identifying an antigen, the method comprising: (a) providing a library comprising bacterial cells, wherein each bacterial cell of the library comprises a heterologous polypeptide; (b) contacting the bacterial cells with a first plurality of human cells which includes non-professional human antigen presenting cells that internalize the bacterial cells; (c) contacting the first plurality of human cells with a second plurality of human cells which comprises human lymphocytes that are not selected for specifically responding to the antigen, under conditions in which lymphocytes are stimulated by polypeptides presented by the first plurality of human cells; and (d) determining whether a lymphocyte of the second plurality of human cells is stimulated by a heterologous polypeptide presented by a cell of the first plurality of human cells, wherein stimulation of a lymphocyte of the second plurality of human cells by a heterologous polypeptide presented by a cell of the first plurality of human cell indicates that the heterologous polypeptide is an antigen.