Hemagglutinin linear epitope presentation on monolayer-protected clusters elicits strong antibody binding

Immunoreactive, multicomponent nanoclusters were assembled through the controlled presentation of a known, synthetic peptide epitope. The epitope comes from the hemagglutanin protein of influenza and is known to bind to a monoclonal anti-HA antibody. Antibody affinity for the immunoreactive MPC was compared to the affinity for traditionally used peptide arrays using the quartz crystal microbalance. The two systems had comparable affinities (Ka), ranging from 0.41 x 10(7) M(-1) to 1.8 x 10(7) M(-1), though the nanocluster used a much lower density of peptide relative to that of the peptide array. These results suggest that functionalized nanoclusters have potential in nanostructure assembly and medical applications. Water-soluble nanoparticles that present known neutralizing peptide epitopes of protein antigens might be used in antiviral influenza vaccines.