Immunoglobulin E vaccines and methods of use thereof

A method of identifying natural immunoglobulin E peptides presented by major histocompatibility complex class I molecules on IgE-producing cells that induce a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte response against natural IgE, comprising:

• a) immunizing a first group of mice with an IgE peptide and a co-stimulatory factor,
• b) performing one or more essays to detect an immune response specific for the IgE peptide administered in step a) wherein the assays are chosen from the group consisting of:
• i) harvesting cytotoxic T-lymphocytes from the immunized mice and testing the cytotoxic T-lymphocytes for the ability to lyse target cells, wherein the target cells are IgE-producing cells,
• ii) measuring levels of circulating IgE in the sera of the immunized mice, and
• iii) measuring the number of IgE-producing cells in the immunized mice,
• wherein detection of a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte response, a decreased level of circulating IgE as compared to a control and/or a decreased number of IgE-producing cells as compared to a control indicates that the IgE peptide of step a) comprises a natural IgE peptide,
• c) generating peptides 8 to 10 amino acids in length which are truncations of the IgE peptide of step a),
• d) immunization a second group of mice with one of the peptides of step c) and
• e) performing one or more assays to detect an immune response specific for the IgE peptide administered in step d) wherein the assays are chosen from the group consisting of:
• i) harvesting cytotoxic T-lymphocytes from the immunized mice and testing the cytotoxic T-lymphocytes for the ability to lyse target cells, wherein the target cells are IgE-producing cells,
• ii) measuring levels of circulating IgE in the sera of the immunized mice, and
• iii) measuring the number of IgE-producing cells in the immunized mice,
• wherein detection of a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte response, a decreased level of circulating IgE as compared to a control and/or a decreased number of IgE-producing cells are compared to a control indicates that the IgE peptide of step d) is a natural IgE peptide.