Structure-based Design of Anti-cancer Vaccines: The Significance of Antigen Presentation to Boost the Immune Response.

Immunotherapy, alone or in combination with other therapies, is widely used against cancer. Glycoprotein Mucin 1 (MUC1), which is overexpressed and aberrantly glycosylated in tumor cells, is one of the most promising candidates to engineer new cancer vaccines. In this context, the development of stable antigens that can elicit a robust immune response is mandatory.

Conformational preferences of chiral acyclic homooligomeric β(2,2)-peptides.

α-Methylisoserine, a chiral acyclic quaternary β-amino acid, has been used to mimic secondary structures, when it is incorporated in a homogeneous β(2,2)-dipeptide. In particular, the observed folded conformations in aqueous solution can be regarded as mimics of β-turn.