Abstract: The present invention relates to an antigenic composition capable of eliciting antibodies by interacting with &agr;&bgr; 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 &agr;10 and &bgr;6 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.