A random peptide library fused to CCR5 for selection of mimetopes expressed on the mammalian cell surface via retroviral vectors

A random peptide library was expressed on the surface of a mammalian cell by applying retroviral vectors. The random sequence was fused to the CCR5 chemokine receptor, which served as a scaffold to present the library at the cell surface. We used this library to isolate an epitope mimetope in a proof of principle system. This approach can become a tool for rapid creation of peptidic expression domains in a eukaryotic environment. Applications include the creation of decoys for receptors in cell-cell interactions, screening for molecules that drive ligand expression on target cells in two-cell interaction screens, among other utilities.