The invention provides a composition comprising an inhibitor of Na+-taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide (NTCP) and a active ingredient selected from the group consisting of a nucleoside analogue such as lamivudine, telbivudine, or entecavir, a nucleotide analogue such as tenofovir, adefovir and an immunomodulator such as interferon alpha. The NTCP inhibitor inhibits HBV/HDV entry into a cell and is preferably derived from an HBV pre-S1 peptide. Also provided are methods of treating HBV and HDV infection, hepatitis B and D, or chronic hepatitis B and D.

This disclosure provides a novel strategy to cope with chronic virus infection by introducing a dominant negative viral structural protein to disturb effective virion production. The dominant negative structural protein mimics antiviral drugs through structural and biochemical interactions during virus assembly. An effective gene therapy model for chronic viral infected diseases is proposed in this disclosure, as represented by HBV Cpdominant1 to clear viral infection.

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.

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.

Provided are methods and compositions that can he used to treat subjects having a viral infection by provoking an immune response using newly discovered antigens that are non-naturally occurring variations on viral glycoproteins. For example, provided are viral glycoproteins or a fragments thereof, or, DNA constructs encoding for such viral glycoproteins or fragments thereof, wherein the glycoprotein or fragment comprises a glycosylation sequon that includes a non-templated aspartic acid residue.

Aspects of the present disclosure include methods and compositions related to therapeutic immune cells having enhanced metabolic fitness. In certain aspects, polynucleotides encoding one or more viral, bacterial, and/or fungal genes capable of manipulating cell metabolism and, optionally, one or more antigen-specific receptors, are disclosed. In some aspects, disclosed are methods for enhancing the metabolic fitness of an immune cell comprising introducing into the immune cell a polynucleotide encoding one or more viral, bacterial, and/or fungal genes capable of manipulating cell metabolism. Cells (e.g., NK cells, T cells) expressing polynucleotides encoding one or more viral, bacterial, and/or fungal genes capable of manipulating cell metabolism and, optionally, one or more antigen-specific receptors are described. Also described are therapeutic methods using polynucleotides of the disclosure.

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.