The Use of Positional Scanning Synthetic Peptide Combinatorial Libraries to Identify Immunological Relevant Peptides

ABSTRACT Many receptor-ligand interactions in biology involve the binding of peptidic molecules to complex surface receptors. Among these, the immune system is a particularly interesting example, since peptides are the main targets for T lymphocytes and can also be recognized by antibodies. The systematic identification of ligands for biologically relevant receptors has been greatly facilitated by the introduction of combinatorial peptide chemistry. Here, we introduce the underlying principles of the use of positional scanning synthetic combinatorial peptide libraries and provide a few informative examples how they have been employed in the recent past.