The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded 14 contracts totaling more than $73 million to fund the Large-Scale Antibody and T Cell Epitope Discovery Program, an initiative aimed at quickly identifying the regions of selected infectious agents that elicit immune reactions. The study of these regions, known as epitopes, promises to uncover targets for new and improved vaccines, therapies and diagnostic tools against potential bioterror agents as well as emerging/re-emerging infectious diseases such as West Nile virus and influenza. NIAID will make information on each newly identified epitope freely available to scientists through a searchable online database currently under development.

"Elucidating the basic mechanisms of immune function is a major focus of our biodefense research agenda," says Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of NIAID. "The information generated by this program will deepen our understanding of how components of the immune system defend against certain infectious agents, enabling researchers to design new and improved medical countermeasures."

"Researchers have been conducting epitope discovery for many years, but generally on a small scale," says Daniel Rotrosen, M.D., director of NIAID's Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation. "This initiative, however, will yield new knowledge about antigenic epitopes from a wide variety of microbes, including agents that might be used in a bioterrorist attack."

Epitopes are recognized by the body's B and T cells, white blood cells that detect an invading pathogen. Each B and T cell is specific for a particular antigen, meaning that each can only bind to a certain foreign molecular structure. This "specificity" is determined by the receptors on the surface of each cell.

Both B- and T-cell specificity as well as the diverse functions of these cells determine the effectiveness of an immu
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Contact: Paul Williams
pw81y@nih.gov
301-402-1663
NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
1-Nov-2004

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