Computer prediction of potential immunogenic determinants from protein amino acid sequence

In proteins, immunogenic determinants that can induce protein-reactive antipeptide anti-bodies reside mostly in those parts of the molecule that have a high tendency to form β-turns. A program for an IBM personal computer which predicts protein immunogenic determinants is described. The program predicts potential immunogenic determinants from protein amino acid sequences according to a Chou-Fasman-based probability of a β-turn occurrence, p > 1.5 × 10 −4 ( P. Y. Chou and G. D. Fasman, 1978, Adv. Enzymol. 47, 46–148). Oncopeptides (whose efficacy in generating protein-reactive antipeptide antibodies has been described) with a β-turn probability of p > 1.5 × 10 −4 elicited antipeptide antibodies that reacted with the parent oncoprotein at a rate of 96%, thus showing a surprisingly good correlation between the tendency to form a β-turn and the protein reactivity of antipeptide antibodies. Potential immunogenic determinants were predicted on myohemerythrin and myoglobin.