Prion peptides comprising prion epitopes and fusions thereof, that display enhanced immunogenicity are described. Also described are methods of treating and diagnosing prion disease.

The present invention provides a method for identifying a synthetic classifier including contacting at least a first and second samples derived from different groups of a cohort with a first plurality of peptides. The first plurality of peptides includes a first subset of peptides defining at least one naturally occurring amino acid sequence, and a second subset of peptides defining a plurality of variants of the first subset of peptides. The plurality of variants includes, for each one of the first subset of peptides, a variant peptide having at least one of a substitution, a deletion, an insertion, an extension, and a modification. The method further includes selecting at least one of the plurality of variants from the second subset of peptides, and defining a synthetic classifier including the at least one of the plurality of variants that distinguishes between samples derived from the first and second cohorts.

The present invention provides a method for identifying a synthetic classifier including contacting at least a first and second samples derived from different groups of a cohort with a first plurality of peptides. The first plurality of peptides includes a first subset of peptides defining at least one naturally occurring amino acid sequence, and a second subset of peptides defining a plurality of variants of the first subset of peptides. The plurality of variants includes, for each one of the first subset of peptides, a variant peptide having at least one of a substitution, a deletion, an insertion, an extension, and a modification. The method further includes selecting at least one of the plurality of variants from the second subset of peptides, and defining a synthetic classifier including the at least one of the plurality of variants that distinguishes between samples derived from the first and second cohorts.

The present invention provides a method for identifying a synthetic classifier including contacting at least a first and second samples derived from different groups of a cohort with a first plurality of peptides. The first plurality of peptides includes a first subset of peptides defining at least one naturally occurring amino acid sequence, and a second subset of peptides defining a plurality of variants of the first subset of peptides. The plurality of variants includes, for each one of the first subset of peptides, a variant peptide having at least one of a substitution, a deletion, an insertion, an extension, and a modification. The method further includes selecting at least one of the plurality of variants from the second subset of peptides, and defining a synthetic classifier including the at least one of the plurality of variants that distinguishes between samples derived from the first and second cohorts.

The present invention relates to reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods useful for the characterisation of glatiramer acetate or similar polypeptide mixtures. The method described herein can distinguish glatiramer acetate from non-conforming copolymers and may be used to choose batches of glatiramer acetate suitable for pharmaceutical use.

The present invention provides a method for identifying a synthetic classifier including contacting at least a first and second samples derived from different groups of a cohort with a first plurality of peptides. The first plurality of peptides includes a first subset of peptides defining at least one naturally occurring amino acid sequence, and a second subset of peptides defining a plurality of variants of the first subset of peptides. The plurality of variants includes, for each one of the first subset of peptides, a variant peptide having at least one of a substitution, a deletion, an insertion, an extension, and a modification. The method further includes selecting at least one of the plurality of variants from the second subset of peptides, and defining a synthetic classifier including the at least one of the plurality of variants that distinguishes between samples derived from the first and second cohorts.

The present invention relates to reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods useful for the characterisation of glatiramer acetate or similar polypeptide mixtures. The method described herein can distinguish glatiramer acetate from non-conforming copolymers and may be used to choose batches of glatiramer acetate suitable for pharmaceutical use.