The disclosure provides methods and compositions utilizing recombinant nucleic acid constructs or a replication incompetent virus-like particle encoding a chemokine, cytokine, or apoptosis inducing protein (e.g. Caspase 9 (Casp9)), or other toxins in a form which can only be transcribed in the presence of a viral polymerase. These methods can be adapted to target many viral infections and reduce or eliminate viral load, and provide a fundamentally different treatment for viral infections.

An inhibitor of Na+-taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide (NTCP) for use in a method of treatment of primary biliary cirrhosis, atherosclerosis, or an NRLP3 inflammasome-associated disease in a subject.

An antimicrobial peptide, the peptide comprising 2 to 20 variable domains, each variable domain is a sequence of 2 to 20 consecutive basic amino acids, wherein (a) the variable domains are separated from each other by a variable linker, (b) the variable linker can have 1 to 20 any amino acids other than two or more consecutive basic amino acids, and (c) the peptide has no more than 100 amino acids.

An inhibitor of Na+-taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide (NTCP) for use in a method of treatment of primary biliary cirrhosis, atherosclerosis, or an NRLP3 inflammasome-associated disease in a subject.

A hepatitis B virus-derived polypeptide exhibits anti-viral effects not only on HIV-1 and HBV but also on all viruses by increasing the expression of type I interferon. The hepatitis B virus-derived polypeptide has a synergistic effect when co-administered with a conventional anti-viral agent. The hepatitis B virus-derived polypeptide is effectively usable in the treatment of virus-related diseases such as AIDS or liver diseases.

The present disclosure provides T-cell modulatory multimeric polypeptides (T-Cell-MMPs) comprising an immunomodulatory polypeptide (MOD) that may be selected to exhibit reduced binding affinity to a cognate co-immunomodulatory polypeptide (Co-MOD) and a location for covalently attaching a molecule that can serve as an epitope, such as an epitope peptide. Once the epitope molecule is attached the resulting T-Cell-MMP-epitope conjugates are useful for modulating the activity of a T-cell by delivering immunomodulatory peptides, such as IL-2 or IL-2 variants that exhibit reduced binding affinity for IL-2R, to the T-cells in an epitope selective/specific manner, and accordingly, for modulating an immune response in an individual.

The disclosure provides compositions and methods of treating a metabolic disease, such as, e.g., diabetes and hyperlipidemia, in a subject, by administering to the subject a therapeutically effective amount of a polypeptide derived from hepatitis B virus or a pharmaceutical composition comprising the polypeptide.

Provided herein are compositions of CD1280 binding proteins and a Hepatitis B virus core antigen (HBcAg) and/or a Hepatitis B virus E antigen (HBeAg), or antigenic fragments or mutants thereof, attached to the CD180 binding protein, and methods for using the compositions to treat or limit the development of hepatitis-B virus (HBV)-related disorders.

A pharmaceutical composition comprising: (a) an isolated peptide, wherein the peptide includes three or four arginine-rich domains (ARDs) from the carboxy-terminal region of hepatitis B virus core protein (HBc) and exhibits an anti-microbial activity; and (b) a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

The present invention relates to a recombinant self-assembled protein comprising a target-oriented peptide and a use thereof The recombinant self-assembled protein according to the present invention, comprising a target-oriented peptide, does not require an additional process for providing target-orientedness, and is thus capable of delivering a desired drug to a target tissue or target cell without using additives, such as chemical binders or stabilizers; therefore, the protein can be used for photothermal therapy, drug delivery, imaging, or the like. In particular, according to the present invention, it is possible to prepare gold-protein nanoparticle fusions in which uniform high-density gold nanoparticles having target-orientedness are bound to protein surfaces, without an additional process of surface stabilization or process for providing target-orientedness. Compared with conventional gold nanoparticles, the gold-protein nanoparticle fusions according to the present invention show structural stability against pH variation and concentration variation, and also have excellent target-orientedness; therefore, the fusions can bring a dramatic enhancement to the utilization of gold nanoparticles in photothermal therapy.