peptides & elephants

The company peptides & elephants GmbH, p&e, is a private CMO for research peptide products based in Hennigsdorf, Brandenburg, Germany. p&e was founded more than 20 years ago by scientists from the Institutes of Nutritional Research and Nutritional Science of the Charité Berlin and Potsdam. Since its foundation, the company has been managed by Dr. Oliver J. Kreuzer, who holds a degree in chemical engineering and a doctorate in biochemistry. His technological, chemical and biochemical background enables interdisciplinary work.

Peptide vaccines for individualized cancer therapy

Research into the use of peptides for individualized cancer therapy as part of a therapeutic cancer vaccine is still in its infancy. However, initial study results show that peptide vaccines are promising.

The principle of peptide vaccination is based on the activation of the body's own T cells, especially CD8+ and CD4+ cells.

For the production of individual peptide vaccines, a biopsy of tumor tissue and, at best, normal tissue is first necessary. The peptides presented there on HLA molecules are isolated, chromatographically separated and characterized by mass spectrometry. This procedure allows the analysis of mostly ≥5000 HLA class I-bound peptides as well as a large number of HLA class II peptides from corresponding tissue samples (as of 2018).

By comparing the peptides of normal tissue and tumor tissue, differences can be detected that are tumor-specific. These can be matched by databases. If tumor antigens or established immune responses of other patients to specific antigens are already known among them, this is advantageous for the determination of peptides for vaccine production.

DNA sequencing of the tumor genome provides information about possible mutations. If corresponding HLA peptides are found by mass spectrometry, these can complement the non-mutated tumor antigens.

A selection of up to ten different peptides is made for the production of the individual drug. Adjuvants are added to the peptide vaccine and it is administered to the patient.

The desired effect is a vaccine-specific immune response by increasing T-cell production. The discrimination of foreign (tumor specific, and/or mutated) is to be improved. The attention of the immune system should be directed to tumor cells with corresponding HLA molecules by increasing specific T cells.

A relevant advantage of synthetic peptides, compared to various other therapeutic approaches, is that amino acid sequences represent a very precisely definable active ingredient, which in principle can be produced at short notice and according to specific specifications. On the other hand, this naturally limits the spectrum of possible immune responses, which in turn makes the selection of target antigens very central.

Mission of p&e

For p&e, technology and science belong together, which is a high priority in the company's philosophy. Their proprietary ultrasound peptide synthesis technology. USPS®, enables the production of hundreds of peptides overnight.

The production of the first prototype, in compliance with all GMP regulations, is scheduled to be completed in 2021/22. The advanced technology will allow for the first time to generate personalized vaccines for cancer treatment, in affordable price frames, for an unlimited number of patients.

Quality of p&e products

As a leading provider of high quality peptide products and services, continuous optimization of product and service quality is of utmost interest.

p&e guarantees you:

• All reagents and solvents used by p&e for peptide synthesis are Animal Component-Free (ACF) / Animal Origin-Free (AOF)
• Free from cross-contamination
• Sequence safe due to capping steps
• All p&e peptides are sterile and free of endotoxins
• Certificates for the individual order/synthesis can be provided by a DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025 accredited testing laboratory (additional costs)

Products and developments from p&e

p&e's products are used in many areas. Customers use the peptides for drug research, therapy development, production of vaccines, especially against cancer, new diagnostic and analytical methods or for basic research. Customers of p&e appreciate the customized peptides -which are produced quickly, cost-effectively and safely.

Peptide libraries

Peptides from the p&e peptide library have the distinct advantage of being well characterized, cleaved and lyophilized in a single vial or in microtiter plates.

Numerous post-translational modifications such as classical phosphorylation, acetylation, and methylation are possible, but more specialized requests such as complete conversions of arginine to citrulline, glutamic acid to pyro-glutamine, and palmitoylation of cysteine (S-palmitoylation), serine, and threonine are also synthetically feasible.

Cyclization, non-natural building blocks such as D-amino acids and organic molecules can also be added.

The p&e peptide libraries provide optimal opportunities for structure-activity relationships (SAR analyses). T-cell stimulations, neoantigen characterization, proteomic analyses and vaccine development.

Peptides can be produced in three quality levels: for research (RUO, random 5% ESI-MS controlled, endotoxin-free and sterile), preclinical studies (100% ESI-MS controlled, endotoxin-free and sterile, average purity of 70%, ) and clinical studies (quality according to GLP criteria, 100% HPLC-MS, >90% pure, TSE/BSE certificate, endotoxin-free and sterile, FDA-compliant QA on request).

Peptide pools as powerful tools

Peptide pools are usually made from complete proteins by generating 15-mer peptide fragments from the primary amino acid sequence. These fragments each overlap in 11 amino acids. These synthesized and pooled peptides comprise the complete protein antigen.

Peptide pools can be used for

• antigen-specific stimulation in T-cell assays
• Immunosurveillance - identification of T cell epitopes
• Mapping of T cell epitopes
• Development of cellular therapy and immunotherapy approaches
• Development of vaccines
• Biological screening
• Protein-protein interaction analyses teinantigen and can be used for T cell assays.

Peptide Arrays

Peptide arrays are powerful tools for studying protein-protein and drug-protein interactions. Screening peptides for potentially active compounds with peptide arrays is a very practical method for basic and applied research, such as drug discovery.

Depending on the screening application, the arrays can be chosen in different formats.

Single Peptide

Peptides can be synthesized to a scale of 2-124 amino acids using the latest Fmoc solid phase technology and purified by HPLC. Synthesis scales range from 5 mg to 1 g, and purities range from crude to >98%, depending on the service. In addition, as shown above, many modifications are possible.

We are pleased about the successful cooperation with our partner peptides & elephants!

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