In the present invention, the Applicant provides a novel method for preventing or treating an infectious disease in a subject in need thereof. In particular said method comprise the administration of a combination, pharmaceutical combination, medicament or kit-of-parts comprising a first part comprising a CD8 vaccine specific for at least one infectious disease-related antigen, optionally a second part comprising an interferon alpha blocking agent, and a third part comprising a type III interferon and/or an agent stimulating the production of type III interferon.

The present invention relates to recombinant adenoviruses and vectors thereof. In particular, the adenoviruses are novel simian adenoviruses having a low seroprevalence and high immunogenicity relative to other adenoviruses and vectors thereof. The invention also provides methods for production of the adenoviruses and for the treatment of diseases by administering the adenoviral vector(s) to a subject (e.g., a human).

Disclosed herein are recombinant CMV vectors which may comprise a heterologous antigen that can repeatedly infect an organism while inducing a CD8+ T cell response to immunodominant epitopes of the heterologous antigen. The CMV vector may comprise a deleterious mutation in the US11 glycoprotein or a homolog thereof.

The present invention provides for novel compositions and methods for delivering genes of interest to stem cells using vectors that contain differentiation-specific transcriptional regulatory elements. For example, stem cells in the internal epithelia could be transfected with a vaccine construct, which has an epithelial cell differentiation-specific promoter driving the expression of viral envelope proteins. When the promoter used is specific for terminally differentiated epithelial cells, then the viral envelope proteins will be expressed only in the upper part of the epithelia and therefore, stimulate the immune response. The infected epithelial stem cells in the basal layer will continue to produce new antigen-expressing cells, without being eliminated by the immune response. This invention will be useful in the development of vaccines against viral agents that target the internal mucosa like HIV.

Methods for generating immune responses using adenovirus vectors that allow multiple vaccinations with the same adenovirus vector and vaccinations in individuals with preexisting immunity to adenovirus are provided.

The present disclosure relates generally to gene delivery using a chimeric, retroviral-RNA replicon vector particle for increased expression of transgenes in a host cell. In particular, the chimeric vectors described herein can be used in any of a variety of settings including gene therapy and vaccine settings.

Instead of generating immune responses to several HIV proteins and risk over activating more CD4+ T cells (easy targets for HIV-1 infection) as current candidate vaccines try to do, a lower magnitude, narrowly focused, well maintained virus specific CD8+ T cell response to multiple subtypes should destroy and eliminate a few founder viruses without inducing inflammatory responses that may activate more CD4+ T cells and provide more targets for HIV-1 virus infection. Specifically, described herein is a method that focuses the immune response to the 12 protease cleavage sites.

Disclosed are CMV vectors that lack active UL128, UL130, UL146 and UL147 proteins that may also comprise one or more microRNA regulatory elements (MRE) that restrict expression of the CMV. Immunization with the disclosed CMV vectors allow selection of different CD8+ T cell responsesCD8+ T cells restricted by MHC-Ia, MHC-II, or by MHC-E.

The invention features stabilized human immunodeficiency virus (H IV) clade C envelope (Env) trimers. The invention also features vaccines, nucleic acids, and vectors to deliver and/or facilitate production of the stabilized HIV clade C Env trimers. In addition, the invention features methods of making and using the stabilized HIV clade C Env trimers of the invention.

Disclosed herein are recombinant CMV vectors comprising heterologous antigens and microRNA recognition elements to silence expression of CMV genes in the presence of microRNA derived from myeloid cells, an active UL128 protein and an active UL130 protein. Also disclosed are recombinant CMV vectors comprising heterologous antigens and microRNA recognition elements to silence expression of CMV genes in the presence of microRNA derived from myeloid cells, an inactive UL128 protein and an inactive UL130 protein. Also disclosed are methods of generating an unconventional immune response using these vectors. Such an immune response is characterized by generation of a CD8+ T cell response that is predominantly restricted by MHC-II.