The present invention relates to fluorocarbon vectors for the delivery of antigens to immunoresponsive target cells. It further relates to fluorocarbon vector-antigen constructs and the use of such vectors associated with antigens as vaccines and immunotherapeutics in animals.

The present invention relates to novel immunogens based on overlapping peptides (OLPs) and peptides derived therefrom useful for the prevention and treatment of AIDS and its related opportunistic diseases. The invention also relates to isolated nucleic acids, vectors and host cells expressing these immunogens as well as vaccines including said immunogens.

Disclosed are compositions and methods related to replication deficient Sindbis viruses that are able to function as controls for nucleic acid diagnostic assays (e.g., nucleic acid sequencing based assays and/or nucleic acid amplification based assays).

The present invention relates to antibody derivatives against HIV based on a mutated CD4-IgG scaffold with enhanced antiviral and immunomodulatory activities. These antibody derivatives are characterized for having an increased ability to (i) block the entry of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) into host cells and (ii) elicit effector functions through the activation of natural killer (NK) cells. The present invention further relates to nucleic acids, vectors and host cells expressing said antibody derivatives, as well their therapeutic and diagnostic applications in human health.

The present invention relates generally to immunization and immunotherapy for the treatment or prevention of HIV. In particular, the methods include in vivo and/or ex vivo enrichment of HIV-specific CD4+ T cells.

Disclosed are delivery and expression systems of multiple antiviral therapeutic molecules. The therapeutic molecules include a novel class of dual-functional peptide and defective interfering genes of a virus. Also disclosed are compositions comprising the therapeutic molecules that are useful for the treatment and prevention of viral infections. Also disclosed herein are the method of making and using a vector that expresses the therapeutic molecules. Therapeutic molecules include cellular components such as RNA, DNA, peptide, proteins or combination thereof.

Provided is a recombinant BCG employing a pMyong2 vector system to express HIV-1 p24 and a use thereof as a HIV-1 vaccine. rBCG-pMyong2-p24, which is a pMyong2 vector system, was found to induce the upregulation of HIV-1 p24 gag expression in rBCG and infected antigen-presenting cells (APC) and to induce improved p24-specific immune responses in vaccinated mice, compared to rBCG-pAL-p24 in a pAL5000 derived vector system. rBCG-pMyong2-p24 was identified to exhibit a higher p24-specific Ab production level than rSmeg-pMyong2-p24 in the same pMyong2 vector system. Therefore, the recombinant BCG employing rBCG-pMyong2-p24 to express HIV-1 p24 according to the present invention is identified to elicit enhanced immune responses to HIV-1 infection in mouse model systems and thus can be expected to be used as a prime vaccine in the heterologous prime-boost vaccination strategy against HIV-1 infection.

A series of recombinant DNA constructs and a method is disclosed for use in immunological therapy in general; and in disrupting T cell receptor (TCR), human leukocyte antigens (HLA) class I and NKG2D (Natural-Killer Group 2, member D) ligand expression in particular, with the effect of producing highly compatible autologous universal T cells for further genetically engineering for allogeneic administration. A Universal T (UT) construct is provided and used, comprising a TCR antibody fragment fused to a transmembrane domain (TMD) and ER retention domain of adenovirus early region 3 glycoprotein E3-19k (E3/19K) (TCR-E3/19K RD). The Universal T (UT) construct can hijack ERAD machinery to arrest TCR and HLA molecules in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and facilitate their translocation into the cytoplasm for ubiquitination and degradation by proteasomes.

In some aspects, the present invention cell-penetrating compstatin analog and compositions comprising cell-penetrating compstatin analog. In some aspects, the invention further provides methods of using cell-penetrating compstatin analogs treat a complement-mediated disorder, e.g., to inhibit complement-mediated damage to a cell, tissue, or organ, to inhibit production or release of biologically active C3 cleavage products.

Provided are a polypeptide specifically binding to TRB3 and application thereof in preparation of drugs for treating and/preventing pulmonary fibrosis. The amino acid sequence of the polypeptide is represented by SEQ ID NO:12 in a sequence list, or two or more amino acids in the amino acid sequence as represented by SEQ ID NO:12 in the sequence list are replaced with unnatural amino acids having side chains that can be linked to each other. The polypeptide and derivatives thereof can specifically bind to TRB3, thereby blocking the interaction between TRB3 and MDM2 proteins.