The present invention relates to an antigenic composition capable of eliciting antibodies by interacting with alphabeta chains of a
T cell receptor (TcR), which composition is comprised of
a peptide-
aldehyde conjugate. The
aldehyde portion may be a dialdehyde, such as
malondialdehyde (MDA), or a monoaldehyde, such as 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE), while the
peptide portion preferably comprises at least one
lysine residue. The antigenic composition according to the invention is capable of recognizing and interacting with a TcR having a complementarity-determining region 3 (CDR3) of alpha10 and beta6 chains that comprises a cluster of charged and
polar amino acids. The invention also relates to a method of producing a vaccine against atherosclerosis by screening of a
library of candidate compounds for their ability to bind to a conjugate of
oxidized LDL and a dialdehyde as well as to such a vaccine as such.