Multipin peptide libraries for antibody and receptor epitope screening and characterization

It has been nearly 15 years since the papers describing the fully systematic epitope mapping approach both for the so-called "continuous" epitopes [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 81 (1984) 3998] and "discontinuous" epitopes [Mol. Immunol. 23 (1986) 709] were published. These seminal papers laid the conceptual foundation for all subsequent developments where a combinatorial approach is applied. Dr. Mario Geysen, the 2000 Kilby Laureate, can certainly lay claim to be the "father of combinatorial chemistry" (http://www.kilby.org/laureates.htm). In this review, I will focus on the aspects of the Multipin technology as they apply to antibody and receptor epitope mapping. Much of what will be presented applies equally well to other applications where peptide libraries (PepSets) and combinatorial approaches are used [Rodda, S.J., 1996. T-cell epitope mapping with synthetic peptides and peripheral blood mononuclear cells. In: Morris, G.E. (Eds.), Methods in Molecular Biology, Vol. 66: Epitope Mapping Protocols. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ, Chap. 30, p. 363; Int. J. Pept. Protein Res. 42 (1993) 384; J. Biol. Chem. 271 (1996) 5603]. Factors and techniques that influence the use of the Multipin method for successful epitope mapping will be presented.