EpitopeDichte

EpitopeDichte, or epitope density, is a measure describing how many distinct epitopes are present on a given antigen or molecular structure and how they are spatially distributed. It can be expressed per unit area, per molecular weight, or per antigen molecule, and may pertain to B cell or T cell epitopes.

The density influences immune recognition: higher B cell epitope density can promote receptor cross-linking and stronger B cell activation; for T cell epitopes, density affects processing and presentation by MHC and the breadth of the T cell response. Clustering and distribution can affect immunodominance and epitope spreading.

In vaccines and immunotherapies, controlling epitope density through multivalent displays, virus-like particles, nanoparticles, or engineered scaffolds aims to enhance immunogenicity and steer the immune response. However, excessive density or inappropriate clustering can cause steric hindrance or nonproductive responses.

Methods to assess or model epitope density include experimental epitope mapping, high-throughput binding and activation assays, structural analyses of antigen surfaces, and computational mapping using sequence and structure data. Density can be estimated for B cell epitopes (surface-accessible regions) or predicted T cell epitopes mapped to MHC presentations.

Epitope density is influenced by antigen structure, post-translational modifications, and the host immune repertoire. It remains an area of active methodological development in structural biology, vaccinology, and computational immunology.