Synthesis of a trimeric gp120 epitope mimic conjugated to a T-helper peptide to improve antigenicity.

A fully synthetic trivalent mimotope of gp120 conjugated to pan allelic HLA DR binding epitope was prepared using solid-phase peptide synthesis and optimized copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition. The methodology efficiently provides chemically uniform heteromultimeric peptide constructs with enhanced binding, avidity, and specificity toward an established HIV-neutralizing human antibody, MAb b12. The versatile synthetic strategy serves as a powerful platform for the development of synthetic peptides as potential HIV-1 vaccine candidates.