Peptide mimotopes as candidate vaccines.

The development of combinatorial peptide libraries, where random peptide sequences are displayed either on the surface of a phage or on a solid support, provides researchers with a powerful tool for analysis and study of the specificity of immune responses. The strength of this technology lies in the large amount of molecular diversity displayed that can be easily obtained and rapidly tested. As a result of screening peptide libraries, novel peptide sequences can be identified, which mimic native protective epitopes (mimotopes), and have the potential for use as vaccine candidates.