The present invention relates to the industrialization of the production of recombinant lentiviral vectors in order to manufacture sufficient materials for therapeutic applications such as gene therapy and/or DNA vaccination, for use in clinical trials and/or commercial use.

The invention relates to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) produced from source dendritic cells (DCs). The invention also relates to synthetic DCs re-differentiated the iPSCs and which display a definitive adult phenotype rather than a primitive fetal/neonatal phenotype. The invention also relates to methods for making and methods of using the iPSCs and DCs of the invention.

The invention relates to nucleic acids, including lentiviral vectors and lentiviral vector particles, encoding at least one Hepatitis B virus (HBV) envelop surface of genotypes A and/or C antigen, at least one polymerase of genotypes A and/or C antigen, at least one HBX protein of genotypes A and/or C antigen, at least one HBV consensus core of genotypes A and/or C antigen, and at least one HBV consensus core MHCI and MHCII epitopes of genotypes A and/or C antigen. The invention encompasses these lentiviral vectors and lentiviral vector particles, methods of making the vectors, and their use, including medicinal uses. The lentiviral vectors and lentiviral vector particles are for use in administering to humans to induce immune responses against the HBV antigens.

The method of generating multipotent stem cells is a method for producing and/or expanding multipotent stem cells by delivering at least one reprogramming protein into somatic cells. The at least one reprogramming protein includes a Master Regulator (MR) protein, which may be BAZ2B, ZBTB20, ZMAT1, CNOT8, KLF12, DMTF1, HBP1, or FLI1. The bromodomain protein BAZ2B, in particular, was identified by first generating bi-species heterokaryons by fusing Tcf7l1.sup.?/? murine embryonic stem cells (ESCs) with human B-cell lymphocytes. Reprogramming of the B-cell nuclei to a multipotent state was tracked by human mRNA transcript profiling at multiple timepoints. Interrogation of a human B-cell regulatory network with gene expression signatures collected from such reprogramming time series identified eight candidate Master Regulator proteins, which were validated in human cord blood-derived hematopoietic progenitor and lineage-committed cells.

The present invention is drawn to compositions and methods to enhance an immune response in order to prevent or treat infections or hyperproliferative diseases such as cancer. More particularly, the composition is an immunostimulatory intracellular signaling peptide fused directly or indirectly to a peptide that leads to multimerization into complexes of three or more units, where the intracellular signaling peptide must be present in a complex of three or more units in order to stimulate an immune response. Inserting this fusion construct into viruses like HIV-1 or introducing it into dendritic cells or tumor cells is predicted to lead to a positive therapeutic effect in humans, non-human mammals, birds, and fish.

The present invention relates to peptides and compositions for use in improving transduction efficiency of viruses into target cells.

The invention is directed to a system comprising a lentivirus vector particle which encodes at least one guide RNA sequence that is complementary to a first DNA sequence in a host cell genome, a Cas9 protein, and optionally a donor nucleic acid molecule comprising a second DNA sequence. The invention also is directed to a method of altering a DNA sequence in a host cell using such a system, where the host cell can be in a human and the altered DNA can be of the human -globin gene. The invention also is directed to a fusion protein comprising a Cas9 protein and a cyclophilin A (CypA) protein. The invention also is directed to sequences of vectors that can be used in the system and method.

The present invention provides ribonucleotide agents that decrease expression of RIOK3 for the treatment of a sickle cell disease.

The invention provides improved gene therapy methods and compositions.

A method to produce modified mesenchymal cells, in particular for the treatment of renal fibrosis, includes modifying the cells with a viral vector, in such a way that the modified cells code for a protein which is Decorin. The modified mesenchymal cells are modified with a modifying agent that includes a viral vector associated with the mesenchymal cells so that the modified mesenchymal cells express Decorin. A medicament, in particular for the treatment of renal and lung fibrosis, includes the mesenchymal cells modified with the modifying agent and which express Decorin.