Immunogenic peptide fragments of metalloprotease ADAMTS-7 and uses thereof in anti-atherosclerosis and related diseases

A product, which is one of the following (A) or (B):

• (A) a peptide consisting of the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:
• 1 of the sequence listing, wherein the peptide does not exist as an isolated fragment in nature;
• and the peptide is obtained by:
• (i) epitope prediction using IEDB B Cell Epitope Prediction;
• (ii) structural modeling based on the crystal structure of ADAMTS-4;
• and
• (iii) homology alignment with ≤2 amino acid differences from mouse ADAMTS-7;
• or
• (B) a conjugate of a peptide, wherein the conjugate consists of a peptide, a carrier protein and a heterobifunctional cross-linking agent, and the conjugate is a complete antigen obtained by coupling the peptide with a carrier protein via a heterobifunctional cross-linking agent;
• and wherein the peptide is a peptide consisting of the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:
• 1 of the sequence listing;
• the carrier protein is selected from keyhole limpet hemocyanin, recombinant Qβ phage particle protein, recombinant bovine papilloma virus protein, recombinant hepatitis B virus protein or tetanus toxoid;
• and
• the heterobifunctional cross-linker is selected from SMCC, Sulfo-SMCC, or LC-SMCC.