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Why does a synthetic peptide need to be coupled to a carrier protein?

April 26, 2017Coupled peptide protein synthetic

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Why does a synthetic peptide need to be coupled to a carrier protein?

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Due to their small size, peptides normally elicit a poor immune response. To increase antigenicity, peptides are coupled to carrier proteins such as keyhole limpet haemocyanin (KLH), bovine serum albumin (BSA) or ovalbumin (OVA) which are highly immunogenic. Peptides need to be coupled to 2 different carrier proteins; one carrier-linked peptide is used for immunizations (KLH-Peptide) and the other (BSA-Peptide) is used for ELISAs to assure the detection of peptide-specific antibodies.