Novel adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors in nucleotide and amino acid forms and uses thereof are provided. The isolates show specific tropism for certain target tissues, such as blood stem cells, liver, heart and joint tissue, and may be used to transduce stem cells for introduction of genes of interest into the target tissues. Certain of the vectors are able to cross tightly controlled biological junctions, such as the blood-brain barrier, which open up additional novel uses and target organs for the vectors, providing for additional methods of gene therapy and drug delivery.

The invention provides methods and materials for treating a seizure disorder such as epilepsy in a patient which employ a vector encoding a modified receptor, the so-called DREADD receptor being characterised by (i) a decreased responsiveness to its endogenous activating ligand (ii) a retained or enhanced responsiveness to an exogenous agonist. The modified receptor is expressed in neurons of a seizure focus in brain of the patient, and an exogenous agonist is administered which activates the modified receptor to reversibly alters the excitability of the neurons in the seizure focus leading to synaptic silencing or other inhibition.

The invention relates to recombinant viral vectors for the insertion and expression of foreign genes for use in safe immunizations to protect against a variety of pathogens. The invention also relates to multivalent compositions or vaccine comprising one or more recombinant viral vectors for protection against a variety of pathogens. The present invention relates to methods of making an using said recombinant viral vectors.

Provided are an epitope peptide (or a variant thereof) that can be used for preventing or treating an EBV infection, a recombinant protein containing the epitope peptide (or variant thereof) and a carrier protein, and the use of the epitope peptide (or variant thereof) and the recombinant protein. Further provided are an antibody against the epitope peptide, and the use thereof in the detection, prevention and/or treatment of an EBV infection and/or diseases caused by the infection.

The present invention relates to the field of (vector) vaccines, and especially to novel EHV's having an inactivation of UL18 and/or UL8. The present invention further concerns related expression cassettes and vectors, which are suitable to express genes of interest, especially antigen encoding sequences. The viral vectors of the present invention are useful for producing an immunogenic composition or vaccine.

The invention provides compositions and methods of treating subjects afflicted with a photoreceptor disorder. Methods for treating a subject suffering from a disorder characterized by photoreceptor cell degeneration are provided, wherein a gene encoding a photosensitive protein is introduced into a retinal cell of a subject. In one aspect of the invention, the retinal cells which receive the photosensitive protein include non-photoreceptor cells such as horizontal cells, amacrine cells, bipolar cells, and ganglion cells.

The invention provides methods and materials for treating a seizure disorder such as epilepsy in a patient which employ a vector encoding a modified receptor, the so-called DREADD receptor being characterised by (i) a decreased responsiveness to its endogenous activating ligand (ii) a retained or enhanced responsiveness to an exogenous agonist. The modified receptor is expressed in neurons of a seizure focus in brain of the patient, and an exogenous agonist is administered which activates the modified receptor to reversibly alters the excitability of the neurons in the seizure focus leading to synaptic silencing or other inhibition.

The embodiments of the present disclosure may provide an oncolytic virus vector and an application thereof. The oncolytic virus vector may comprise a recombinant nucleic acid. The recombinant nucleic acid may include: (i) a first nucleic acid fragment encoding a soluble PD-1 molecule; (ii) a second nucleic acid fragment encoding a CD86 molecule; and (iii) a third nucleic acid fragment encoding an antibody to a CD3 molecule.

The present invention provides methods for increasing the sensitivity of tumor cells to a TCR-engineered T cells (TCR-T) therapy comprising genetically modifying the tumor cells to express an haplotype, for example an HLA haplotype, different from the haplotype endogenous to the tumor cells.

The disclosure provides methods for generating reversion free attenuated and/or replication incompetent vaccine vectors and their use in vaccine compositions and vaccination.