The present invention relates nucleic acid constructs for the production of recombinant parvoviral (e.g. adeno-associated viral) vectors in insect cells, to insect cells comprising such constructs and to methods wherein the cells are used to produce recombinant parvoviral virions. The insect cells preferably comprise a first nucleotide sequence encoding the parvoviral rep proteins whereby the initiation codon for translation of the parvoviral Rep78 protein is a suboptimal initiation codon that effects partial exon skipping upon expression in insect cells. The insect cell further comprises a second nucleotide sequence comprising at least one parvoviral (AA V) inverted terminal repeat (ITR) nucleotide sequence and a third nucleotide sequence comprising a sequences coding for the parvoviral capsid proteins.

Provided herein are methods and compositions useful in the production of recombinant AAV (rAAV) in host producer cells, such as insect cells. In some embodiments, methods, uses and compositions are provided that comprise recombinant VP1 genes comprising modified Kozak sequences to express AAV VP1 proteins in amounts that are useful for producing infective rAAV particles. These infective rAAV particles may comprise a gene of interest.

The present invention relates nucleic acid constructs for the production of recombinant parvoviral (e.g. adeno-associated viral) vectors in insect cells, to insect cells comprising such constructs and to methods wherein the cells are used to produce recombinant parvoviral virions. The insect cells preferably comprise a first nucleotide sequence encoding the parvoviral rep proteins whereby the initiation codon for translation of the parvoviral Rep78 protein is a suboptimal initiation codon that effects partial exon skipping upon expression in insect cells. The insect cell further comprises a second nucleotide sequence comprising at least one parvoviral (AAV) inverted terminal repeat (ITR) nucleotide sequence and a third nucleotide sequence comprising a sequences coding for the parvoviral capsid proteins.

The invention relates to peptides, polypeptides or proteins which specifically bind to cells of the brain and/or the spinal cord. The peptides, polypeptides or proteins can be part of a viral capsid, and they can be used for guiding a recombinant viral vector selectively to the brain and/or spinal cord after systemic administration to a subject, where it provides for a tissue-specific expression of one or more transgenes. The invention therefore also relates to a recombinant viral vector, preferably an AAV vector, comprising a capsid containing at least one of the peptides, polypeptides or proteins of the invention and at least one transgene which is packaged within the capsid. The viral vector is particularly suitable for the therapeutic treatment of a disease or functional disorder of the brain and/or the spinal cord. The invention further relates to cells and pharmaceutical compositions comprising the viral vector of the invention.

A recombinant baculovirus, including: an adeno-associated virus Rep gene, an adeno-associated virus Cap gene, and an recombinant adeno-associated virus genome ITR-GOI (gene of interest) flanked by rAAV inverted terminal repeats (ITR). The ITR-GOI includes a 5 terminal nucleic acid fragment and a 3 terminal nucleic acid fragment. The ITR-GOI is linked to an expression cassette of the Cap gene and an expression cassette of the Rep gene through the 5 terminal nucleic acid fragment and the 3 terminal nucleic acid fragment, respectively.

The present invention relates to an optimized baculovirus construct useful for the production of virus(-like) particles or viral vectors, in particular viral vectors for gene therapy.

The present invention relates to adeno-associated viral (AAV) particles encoding siRNA molecules and methods for treating Huntington's Disease (HD).

The present disclosure describes methods and systems for use in the production of adeno-associated virus (AAV) particles, including recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) particles. The production process and system use Baculoviral Expression Vectors (BEVs) and/or Baculoviral Infected Insect Cells (BIICs) in the production of AAV particles (e.g., rAAVs) which allow for the controlled expression of AAV structural (e.g., capsid) proteins, such as VP1, VP2, and VPS and the controlled expression of AAV nonstructural (e.g., replication) proteins, such as Rep78 and Rep52.

The present invention provides new stable packaging cell lines and producer cell lines as well as methods to obtain them, and a new method to produce lentiviral vectors using such cell lines. New methods and packaging cell lines of the invention are generated using a baculo-AAV hybrid system for stable expression of structural and regulatory lentiviral proteins, such system comprising a baculoviral backbone containing an integration cassette flanked by AAV ITR, in combination with a plasmid encoding rep protein. This system allows to obtain a stable integration of the structural and regulatory HIV-1 proteins gag/pol and rev. The system allows to obtain a first intermediate including only the structural and regulatory HIV proteins gag/pol and rev, to be used as starting point to obtain stable packaging cell lines as well as producer cell lines.

The present invention relates to a method for producing a single cell clone of an insect cell comprising integrated into the genome of the cell at least one expression cassette for inducible expression of parvoviral Rep 78 and 52 proteins. The insect cells can be used for the production of parvoviral vectors by transfection constructs comprising parvoviral Cap and ITR sequences. Single cell clones obtained in the methods of the invention can be expanded for into a cell bank for the production of clinical grade parvoviral gene therapy vectors.