Selection and identification of mimic epitopes for gastric cancer-associated antigen MG7 Ag

Phage display technology is now well established as an important experimental approach in designing new reagents for diagnosis of diseases and development of novel vaccines. Aiming at identifying possible immunogenic mimotopes of gastric cancer-associated antigen, we used a monoclonal antibody against gastric cancer, named monoclonal antibody MG7, to screen two phage-displayed nanopeptide libraries. All selected phages were used to immunize BALB/c mice separately. By immunohistochemical staining the tissue sections with the immunized mice sera, we identified one phage that induced gastric cancer-specific antibody response. Consistent with our reported results before, we demonstrate that specific immunogenic epitopes can be isolated by screening phage-displayed library even when natural antigens are not readily available.