EP1410037A2

EP1410037A2 - Method for identifying immune reactive epitopes on proteins and the use thereof for prophylactic and therapeutic purposes

Info

Publication number: EP1410037A2
Application number: EP02729986A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Rudolf Kunze
Original assignee: Affina Immuntechnik GmbH
Current assignee: Fresenius Medical Care Affina GmbH
Priority date: 2001-03-10
Filing date: 2002-03-09
Publication date: 2004-04-21
Also published as: WO2002073209A3; WO2002073209A2; AU2002302410A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for identifying immune reactive epitopes on proteins of human cells, tissues, organs and microoganisms, which are related to diseases such as auto immune diseases, cancer or infections. Samples a) from patients with said diseases are treated in order to obtain fractions, wherein Fa'b'-antibody fragments and/or immune globulin fragments recognising antigen are enriched or insulated, b) the fractions enriched or insulated in step (a) are brought into contact with peptides comprising at least 12 amino acids and immobilised on a carrier which are extracted by fragmenting proteins or proteomes, c) in an assay, wherein peptides comprising more than 12 amino acids are bound to solid phases, said peptides being tested for interaction with Fa'b'-antibody fragments and/or immune globulin fragments recognising immune globalin, whereupon d) when interaction occurs between the Fa'b'-antibody fragments and/or immune globulin fragments recognising antigen and the peptide comprising at least 12 amino acids, the peptide comprising at least 12 amino acids is recognised as an immune reactive epitope and, optionally further analysed.

Description

Process for the identification of immunoreactive epitopes on proteins and use of the epitopes for prophylactic and therapeutic purposes

Method for the identification of immunoreactive epitopes on proteins from human cells, tissues, organs and microorganisms which are associated with

Autoimmune diseases, cancers and infections are related as well as the use of the identified epitopes

The immune system is an integral evolutionary component of the origin and development of animal life. The immune system of higher organisms has three essential tasks

• the fight against microorganisms

Maintaining tumor surveillance, i.e. the permanent removal of emerging tumor cells

• the organization of tissue regeneration. Diseases are linked to the immune system in various ways. There is practically no disease without the involvement of the immune system, both in terms of its emergence and its overcoming.

Antibodies play an important role in this complex interplay between organism and immune system. Their function goes beyond mere attachment to their target and assisting in target destruction. They are involved in the regulation of all important immunological processes in the organism, in the cooperation of humoral and cellular immune reactions.

Autoantibodies-associated autoimmune diseases have a certain special status. Autoantibodies are ligands with pathological properties with regard to their targets - endogenous structures in the tissue, on cells etc. - because they induce the destruction of the tissue / organ or lead to the dysfunction of cells etc. At the same time, through their attachment to the body's own structures, they mark it as an epitope. Knowing the structure of epitopes - eg the respective amino acid sequence - is of fundamental importance for future medicine or the prevention and treatment of diseases. An antibody binding epitope can then serve as a starting point or target for various therapeutically oriented product developments.

Antibodies in the immune system

Antibodies are among the best-studied structures of the immune system. Although important functions have been known for many years, if not decades, new functions are still being discovered or the importance of antibodies is being recognized more and more. This applies less generally than in the context of defined so-called targets and diseases, in which these targets or the antibodies have a pathogenetic meaning. Antibodies regularly mark a target by binding to their epitope. Binding can initiate a number of subsequent immunological reactions. This includes e.g. B. complement activation, which generally leads to local target destruction, a local inflammatory response and cytokine release. Interaction with certain cellular surface molecules (Fc receptors) initiates cellular activation processes, which in turn intervene in immune regulation. This often results in further follow-up reactions.

Antibodies can contribute to the development of diseases in a variety of ways (autoimmune diseases, chronic inflammation) or to fight the disease (infections, cancer) and support the body's immune system.

The detection of an antibody in an illness initially says nothing about its functional status. However, there is an increasing deeper understanding of the function of antibodies in the pathogenesis of certain diseases. An example of the pathological functions of autoantibodies beyond target destruction and inflammation are the autoantibodies directed against a peptide epitope of the angiotensin receptor, which are held responsible for a certain form of high blood pressure in pregnant women (preeclampsia) (Wallukat et al., 1999).

The protective, antitumor effect of epitope-specific antibodies has been shown for colon carcinoma (Riethmüller et al, 1998). From a medical point of view, antibodies and their binding epitopes have an (immune) therapeutic potential that can be used preventively or therapeutically.

In this sense, the recognition of the binding sites of antibodies at the molecular level of organism's own structures is synonymous with the identification of a peptide epitope. If defined amino acid sequences, the location of which is known in the respective proteome / protein, are offered to the antibodies as a binding region and bind antibodies to certain peptide epitopes, medically valuable targets can be identified.

The target / peptide epitope is, after assured specificity and in the context of the respective disease, the starting molecule - both as a peptide itself and in transcribed form (DNA / RNA) - for a number of medically useful uses, e.g. can be used for ligand development to eliminate pathological antibodies from body fluids, especially the bloodstream, or to induce therapeutic antibodies.

Autoantibodies and diseases

There are several hundred diseases that are in turn associated with well over 1000 different types of autoantibodies. A number of autoimmune diseases are known in humans, in which autoantibodies have proven pathological functions. However, the molecular cause of its origin is almost always unknown. So far, the determination of autoantibodies has mainly diagnostic, in some cases also prognostic value. Autoantibodies are currently used almost exclusively in this sense.

Autoantibodies can be understood as a failure of the humoral immune defense (natural autoantibodles are excluded from this view). The immune system has failed in the sense of alien self-recognition or has been outwitted.

The spectrum of autoantibodies is very different for the various autoimmune diseases. Common to all is the bond to the body's own tissues, cells, molecules. The clinical picture of a particular autoimmune disease then arises - to put it simply - depending on the respective antibody target sites in the body. The consequence of its binding are excessive immunological inflammatory reactions, which can be chronic or relapsing. These auto-aggressive reactions often lead to organ destruction and loss of function (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes or multiple sclerosis).

Almost all autoimmune diseases are still treated with immunosuppressive agents. The goal of this therapy is to suppress antibody production. These therapies are at least soothing, but to a large extent ineffective. You also have no claim to causality, since these drugs suppress the production of all immunoglobulins.

A pioneering, new therapeutic approach is the treatment of autoimmune diseases with defined pathological autoantibodies by specific immunoglobulin adsorption, which has recently been experimentally pursued. Dilatative cardiomyopathy (DCM) serves as a model case. In most cases, this severe heart disease is associated with the appearance of autoantibodies against the β1-adrenergic receptor of cardiac muscle cells, which seem to be related to the development of the disease. If the immunoglobulins - and thus also the pathological autoantibodies - are removed from patients with DCM, the cardiac output of the patients and the clinical picture improve. Obviously, the removal of antibodies in autoimmune diseases, i.e. immunoadsorption, has therapeutic benefits (Müller, J. et al 2000).

Therapeutic antibodies and diseases

Antibodies are the material expression of a specific humoral immune response with which the organism pursues the goal of eliminating an antigen or an agent or a cancer cell. If there is no self-therapeutic success despite these efforts of the immune system, it may mean that the organism's immunoreactive capacity is too low.

In such cases, target / epitope-specific antibodies can be added directly to the organism to help them fight the agent / pathogen etc. Another therapeutic option is the specific enhancement of the body's immune system by administering immunogenic peptide epitopes or their transcribed form (DNA / RNA).

US-A-5,553,325 describes peptides or peptide libraries which are used as randomized or focused peptide families to investigate the interaction of such peptides with substances of interest. In detail, these include antibodies, receptors, toxins, active parts of proteins. The peptides described are soluble and have a length of 3 to 8 amino acids. US-A-4,906,564 describes the identification of surface antigens in determinants of intact pathogens, the identification of the antigenic components being carried out by antibodies. Immune complexes are analyzed that can arise from the reaction of immunoglobulins directed against malaria pathogens and as yet undefined Plasmodium antigens. After usual separation steps and biochemical-analytical Methods are then isolated under certain conditions antigens from the immune complex and their structure determined. Gevorkian, G. et al. in "Immunology Letters 49 (1996) p. 185-189" disclose the investigation of sequential synthetic peptides for antibody binding. The antibodies come from antigenic structures of Taenia crassiceps. Blüthner, M. et al. in "Autoimmunity, 29 (1999), p. 33-42" disclose the examination of serum samples from patients with primary biliary cirrhosis. These patients have autoantibodies against a core protein (splOO, PBC, autoantigen). Here too, an autoantibody is purified by affinity chromatography on its target.

Targets / epitopes for antibodies / autoantibodies and antibodies themselves as therapeutic agents

Autoantibodies specifically target almost all proteins or other components of the human body. However, the exact binding sites are largely unknown. H. the (auto) antibody-binding epitopes, on the proteins.

An object of the present invention relates to the identification and provision of antibody-binding epitopes of proteins of human or microbial origin and creates a prerequisite for the development of new substances which can be used to treat autoimmune diseases, cancer or infectious diseases.

This object is achieved according to the invention by a method for identifying immunoreactive epitopes on proteins from human cells, tissues, organs and from microorganisms which are associated with diseases such as autoimmune diseases, cancerous diseases or infections, samples a) of patients with these diseases being processed to obtain fractions in which Fa'b 'antibody fragments and / or antigen-recognizing immunoglobulin fragments are enriched or isolated, b) the fractions enriched or isolated in step (a) are brought into contact with peptides which have at least twelve amino acids and are immobilized on a support and are obtained by fragmentation from proteins or proteomes, c) in an assay in which Peptides with more than twelve amino acids

Solid phases bound to interaction with Fa'b ^' -

Antibody fragments and / or antigen-recognizing

Immunoglobulin fragments are checked, whereupon d) in the case of interactions between the Fa'b 'antibody fragments and / or antigen-recognizing immunoglobulin fragments and the peptide having at least twelve amino acids, the peptide having at least twelve amino acids can be recognized as an immunoreactive epitope and, if necessary, further analyzed ,

The method according to the invention allows the identification of immunoreactive epitopes in a simple manner. An identified epitope on a human protein to which autoantibodies / antibodies bind has the potential to be an agent that can be used for medical purposes. The following possible uses of an antibody binding epitope identified by the method according to the invention result: 1 for specific immunoglobulin adsorption for the removal of epitope-specific autoantibodies,

2 as DNA / RNA for inducing a specific immunosuppression of the epitope-specific autoantibodies by means of transient gene therapy,

3 as a peptide or DNA / RNA fragment from lymphocytes for diagnostic purposes for the detection of autoantibodies or their specific

Encoding, 4 Use of the identified epitope as an antigen for the production of therapeutic antibodies, ie production and use of the epitope-specific antibodies

5 as vaccine (as peptide or as DNA) for induction of antibodies in the sense of active immunization,

6 as DNA / RNA to induce a specifically enhanced immune response using transient gene therapy,

7 as target for drug screening a) the identified epitope (as peptide or DNA / RNA) b) the epitope-specific, identified antibodies c) a) in combination with b)

The points. 1st-3rd and 7. apply more with regard to autoimmune diseases, points 4.-6. apply more to cancer and infectious diseases. Point 7 applies to all epitopes and antibodies. The method according to the invention can be used in particular in high-throughput screening with which

Autoantibody-binding peptide epitopes specifically identified for autoimmune diseases,

Antibody-binding epitopes that are specifically identified for cancer,

• Antibody-binding epitopes from microorganisms are identified.

From blood samples or other antibody-containing body fluids from patients with clearly diagnosed diseases, immunoglobulins, namely Fa'b 'antibody fragments and / or antigen-recognizing immunoglobulin fragments, which are obtained with peptides which have more than twelve amino acids, preferably obtained from human proteomes or microbial, can be isolated Proteomes. The proteins / proteomes were fragmented into peptides with at least twelve amino acids and bound on a solid phase. It is also possible that To synthesize peptides directly on a solid phase, the amino acid sequences used being derived from proteins / proteomes.

In principle, the use of body fluids containing antibodies, the use of isolated immunoglobulin subclasses (e.g. immunoglobulin Gl - G4, IgM, IgA) of immunoglobulin fragments recognizing antigens or the use of animal immunoglobulins in the form described above after immunization with human proteins recombinant proteins Peptides, organ extracts, tissues or microorganisms possible to identify immunoreactive peptide epitopes with the resulting immunoglobulins or fragments.

According to the invention, linear or cyclized amino acid chains of human or microbial protein molecules, in a chain length of at least twelve amino acids, preferably overlapping in their sequence, e.g. used in steps of two. The solid-phase-fixed peptides are incubated, for. B. as peptide spots on chips or other suitable carriers with an antibody-containing reaction solution (containing the patient / test subject immunoglobulins or immunoglobulin fragments, for example in a suitable buffer solution or protein solution. During the incubation period, the Fa'b 'antibody fragments or antigen bind recognizing immunoglobulin fragments the surfaces on which the ready-to-bind peptides are contained.

The detection of the Fa'b 'antibody fragments or the antigen-recognizing immunoglobulin fragments on a peptide is carried out using fluorescence, luminescence, colorimetric, densidomentric, laser-optical or other physical methods customary in antibody diagnostics. For. Carrying out the methods for detecting an interaction between the immunoreactive epitopes to be identified are the Fa'b 'antibody fragments or antigen-recognizing immunoglobulin fragments, for. B. marked with dyes. Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) is particularly suitable for labeling. Further possibilities for labeling antibodies or antibody fragments are known to the person skilled in the art. Examples of this are other fluorescent dyes such as phycoerythrin or the streptavidin ligand biotin. Luminescent markers such as luminol or the coupling of the immunoglobulins or immunoglobulin fragments to marker enzymes such as alkaline phosphatase or metal ions are also possible.

Another embodiment relates to another detection of the bound antibodies or Fa'b 'antibody fragments or immunoglobulin fragments recognizing antigen on the peptide. Are the peptides as spots together with z. B. Biotin synthesized, can be seen from the amount of bound streptavidin molecules, which are fluorescence-labeled or otherwise equipped with a marker molecule, whether the Fa'b 'antibody fragments or antigen-recognizing immunoglobulin fragments have previously bound to a peptide. In addition to the coupling of the Fa'b 'antibody fragments or immunoglobulin fragments recognizing antigen to marker molecules, there is also the possibility of direct detection of the binding of immunoglobulin or immunoglobulin fragments to the peptides. The use of certain laser-optical light signals allows direct measurement. Here, the protein ligating to the peptides is detected by measuring the change in the vibrational properties of the light.

Since a large number, several thousand peptide epitopes are tested for their antibody binding in parallel, data acquisition and analysis is preferably carried out using computers with suitable software. Typically, the immunoreactive epitope specifically reacts with a polypeptide, antibody, autoantibody, Fa'b 'antibody fragments or other antigen-recognizing immunoglobulin fragments.

According to the invention, the immunoreactive epitope is in particular a component of a structurally and functionally characterized protein such as, for example, plasma proteins, cell-bound receptor molecules (e.g. β1 adrenergic

Receptor, neuroreceptors, hormone receptors, immune receptors) intracellular or extracellular enzymes (e.g. DNAse, trypsinogen, plasminogen) extra- or intracellular matrix proteins (e.g. collagens, fibrinogen, hyaluronic acid, cytokeratins.

According to the invention, the immunoreactive epitope is contained in proteomes and derived from protein, proteome or genome databases, synthesized and / or isolated from biological or recombinant material. The peptides are advantageously applied directly to solid matrices, e.g. Chips, synthesized. However, they can also be obtained by fragmentation of native proteins and protein-containing materials and then immobilized. The amino acid sequences can be generated from the genome and protein databases which are generally or commercially available or are analyzed after antibody binding.

Another possibility for generating the proteins with the corresponding amino acid sequences, which are to serve as epitopes, consists in the subsequent analysis of epitopes after they have bound an antibody or an antibody fragment in the screening

The assay used in the method according to the invention is advantageously designed as a binding and incubation assay. Incubation of the Fa'b 'antibody fragments or antigen-recognizing immunoglobulin fragments from patient or test material can be carried out directly on the peptides on the matrices. After a certain exposure time, all excess proteins are removed by washing. If it is directly labeled Fa'b 'antibody fragments or immunoglobulin fragments recognizing antigen, e.g. B. by fluorescent molecules, can then be analyzed directly with a suitable measuring system (fluorescence measuring device with micrometer-precise positioning of the laser beam and the photocell). For this purpose, the Fa'b 'antibody fragments or antigen-recognizing immunoglobulin fragments can be incubated in a purified form in combination with defined serum proteins or else returned in serum samples, preferably into those from which they originate. Another possibility is to use a secondary detection system, e.g. B. highly specific antibodies which recognize the human Fa'b 'antibody fragments or antigen-recognizing immunoglobulin fragments and are themselves fluorescence-labeled. The detection takes place in the manner described above.

Another possibility for detection is to use enzyme-labeled immunoglobulins or secondary, enzyme-conjugated antibodies. After appropriate incubation and the usual washing steps to remove unbound proteins, these are incubated with a suitable substrate, which leads to a locally recognizable color reaction after a certain exposure time. This color reaction corresponds to a defined amount of the bound antibody in a certain concentration range. By means of suitable evaluation methods, the binding of the immunoglobulin of the Fa'b 'antibody fragments or immunoglobulin fragments recognizing antigen to the respective peptide epitope, which was presented as a spot, can thus be detected.

In addition to non-competitive binding assays, competitive binding assays can also be used for evaluation. The patient immunoglobulin (originating from patients with clearly defined clinical images) can be marked directly. Then it is mixed with test person immunoglobulin and in this form it is incubated with the peptide spots and, if necessary, bound.

In principle, it is possible with this test variant to carry out the incubation steps sequentially, ie firstly unspecifically saturating the peptide spots on the matrices with test subject immunoglobulin, in order to then incubate the patient material with the peptide epitopes in a subsequent incubation step. This method is advantageous if the respective proteomes, which come from organs, have been broken down into peptide epitopes, have a high background, ie a large amount of natural autoantibodies, and this could interfere with the actual measurement result. According to the invention, the interaction of peptide epitope with polypeptides is detected in particular by marked polypeptides and / or fractions which contain the binding polypeptides by measurable properties, in particular spectroscopic properties of the polypeptides or fractions. According to the invention, the polypeptides can also be characterized by screening for molecular weights or molecular binding forces.

The samples which are used as samples according to the invention preferably originate from patients, according to step (a) of the method according to the invention. It is also possible to use autologous pooled samples. The screening is also suitable for the identification of antibody-binding epitopes, cancer-relevant antigens / epitopes and the epitopes of microbial, in particular pathological, pathogens. Blood / serum samples from corresponding diseased individuals are also processed for this and immunoglobulin fragments recognizing the Fa'b 'antibody fragments or antigen are used for binding to the peptide epitopes. According to the invention, the method is also suitable for the identification of pathologically relevant epitopes in diseases such as Alzheimer's, Chronique Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) or Parkinson's disease by using appropriate patient samples.

Examples of diseases in which the patient's serum is of particular interest for epitope screening are diabetes mellitus, psoriasis, neurodermatitis, dilated cardiomyopathy, myocarditis, patients with high blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, multiple sclerosis, thyroid disorders, hearing loss, hearing loss, hearing loss, hearing loss Ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, Alzheimer's, Chronique Fatigue Syndrome (CFS, AIDS). Fa'b 'antibody fragments or antigen-recognizing immunoglobulin fragments or their antigen-binding fragments from body fluids, preferably serum samples, can also be used in the case of cancer to identify specific, disease-associated peptide epitopes. These include head neck cancer, melanoma, kidney or liver cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer, ovarian cancer, brain tumors, pancreatic cancer and various leukemias. In addition to blood serum, other patient materials containing immunoglobulin are of interest (for example liquor, sputum, faeces, lymph fluid, synovial fluid, ascites).

The patient material which contains immunoglobulins or is used to obtain immunoglobulins advantageously comes from patients in whom the disease was only recently recognized. The use of patient material that comes from patients who have been treated with medication, in particular immunosuppressively, is less favorable.

The immunoglobulin-containing material from patients with microbial infections is also suitable for epitope screening. However, this will not

Peptide epitopes from human proteome, but those from the

Structures / proteomes of the affected microorganisms are used. An example of this is the detection of the antibody-binding peptide epitopes from e.g. B.

Virus proteins in AIDS or hepatitis B and hepatitis C. According to the invention, the already known amino acid sequences of various virus components are broken down into peptides, these are synthesized on a solid matrix and then processed with the processed immunoglobulins or immunoglobulin fractions of

Incubated patients who have been shown to have this infectious disease.

This is followed by the following steps of the method according to the invention.

According to the invention, the peptides prepared and presented in step (b) of the method according to the invention are brought into contact by incubation with samples from patients used in step (a) of the method according to the invention. It is used to ensure the specificity of the antibody-epitope binding reactions if the antibody / serum samples from preferably at least three patients of a defined disease group are examined in comparison with the samples from five and more healthy people. This is a preferred part of the screening. The specificity of the binding of antibodies etc. to a peptide epitope is exploited using a mathematical data analysis of the usual statistical methods / software, the optical or other signals being processed as measured values.

Depending on the screening, the statistical evaluation has to be carried out. The data analysis takes into account the structure of the test to ensure the specificity of the detected epitope-antibody binding. A cornerstone of the system is the comparison of the bound amount of Fa'b 'antibody fragments or immunoglobulin fragments recognizing antigen to an epitope from a group of healthy subjects with those who suffer from a clearly diagnosed disease. The difference from the binding profile of a number of presented epitopes then leads to the recognition of the immunoreactive epitopes which are specific for a disease.

These amino acid chains can serve as starting molecules for further target characterization and the possible uses of the identified epitope according to the invention. The cleaning of the patient's antibody by using the identified peptide epitope via suitable cleaning columns, in which the peptide is bound to a solid phase in larger quantities, is then advantageous for the search strategy.

If patient material is then passed over it, the corresponding specific antibodies remain bound to the epitope and can be isolated in a subsequent incubation step. Furthermore, the identified epitope can be used to immunize animals or immunocompetent cells in vitro to generate monoclonal antibodies, which are then another tool for characterizing the epitope as a peptide / amino acid sequence and the epitope in its native environment, that is to say in the protein or proteome. are. The peptide epitope determined and defined after the tests carried out and in the proof of specificity is then the starting molecule for the product developments described at the beginning.

Another preferred method uses fluorescent-labeled or otherwise labeled Fa'b 'antibody fragments or antigen-recognizing

Immunoglobulin fragments isolated from patients with diseases. According to the invention, in this screenin variant, the peptide epitopes are incubated beforehand with native, unlabelled Fa'b 'antibody fragments or immunoglobulin fragments of healthy persons which recognize antigen. After unbound antibodies have been washed out, the incubation step with the labeled patient antibodies takes place under similar conditions with regard to protein concentration, pH and buffer content. The fluorescence-labeled Fa'b 'antibody fragments or antigen-recognizing immunoglobulin fragments etc. can only occupy free epitope binding sites. The peptide epitopes identified by the measurement signal have thus been identified as specifically and therapeutically relevant.

Claims

claims

1. Method for the identification of immunoreactive epitopes on proteins from human cells, tissues, organs and from microorganisms associated with diseases such as autoimmune diseases, cancer or

Infections are related, with samples a) from patients with these diseases being processed in order to obtain fractions in which immunoglobulin fragments recognizing fa'b 'antibody fragments and / or antigen are present or isolated, b) those enriched in step (a) or isolated fractions with peptides which have at least twelve amino acids and are immobilized on a support, which are obtained by fragmentation from proteins or proteomes, c) in an assay in which peptides with more than twelve amino acids are present

Solid phases bound to interaction with Fa'b'-

Recognizing antibody fragments and / or antigen

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the immunoreactive epitope is a functional protein, e.g. B. in a receptor, enzyme, an intra- or extracellular protein, a matrix protein or plasma protein.

3. The method according to any one of claims 1 and / or 2, wherein the peptide epitope is derived from information from extracted protein, gene or proteome databases and synthesized and / or isolated from biological material.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the interaction by labeled Fa'b 'antibody fragments and / or labeled antigen-recognizing immunoglobulin fragments and / or fractions containing the Fa'b' antibody fragments and / or antigen-recognizing immunoglobulin fragments, or the interaction by measurable properties, in particular spectroscopic properties of the Fa'b 'antibody fragments and / or antigen-recognizing immunoglobulin fragments or fractions containing them is detected.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the Fa'b 'recognizing antibody fragments and / or antigen

Immunoglobulin fragments etc. by screening for molecular weights, e.g. be identified as binding by mass spectroscopic methods.

6. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the Fa'b 'antibody fragments and / or antigen recognizing

Immunoglobulin fragments from patients used in step (a) of claim 1, individual or pooled samples, in particular from serum from patients, healthy control persons or animal organisms.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the peptides used in step (b) of claim 1 prior to incubation with samples from patients, which are used in step (a) of claim 1, in contact with samples from healthy people to be brought.

8th . Use of a protein or a peptide compound obtainable according to at least one of claims 1 to 7 For specific immunoglobulin adsorption for the removal of epitope-specific autoantibodies,

• as a peptide or transcribed as an oligonucleotide for diagnostic purposes

Purposes for the detection of antibodies or their genetic specific information

As an antigen for the production of therapeutic antibodies, in particular the production of epitope-specific antibodies in vitro or in vivo by means of cells or normal or transgenic vertebrates, as a vaccine (as a peptide or as DNA / RNA) for antibody induction in vivo for active immunization,

• as a target for an active substance screening a) of the epitope identified according to claims 1-7 as a peptide or transcribed as DNA / RNA b) of the epitope-specific, identified antibodies.

9. Use of an oligo- or polynucleotide, obtainable by rewriting the amino acid sequences of the proteins or peptides obtainable by a method according to at least one of claims 1 to 7 in the coding nucleic acid, as DNA / RNA for inducing a specific immunosuppression epitope-specific

Autoantibodies using transient gene therapy or as DNA / RNA to induce a specifically enhanced immune response using transient gene therapy and / or as a target for drug screening of the identified epitope as DNA / RNA.