The presently disclosed subject matter provides methods, reporter gene constructs, and kits for using prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) as an imaging reporter to image a variety of cells and tissues.

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 disclosure relates to a method for inhibiting a STAT3 activity, and a method for treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

The present disclosure provides cytomegalovirus vectors encoding fusion proteins comprising Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) antigens, nucleic acid molecules encoding the same, cytomegalovirus vectors comprising nucleic acid molecules, compositions comprising the same, and methods of eliciting an immune response against tuberculosis.

The present disclosure provides vectors that allow efficient expression of transgenes. The vector of the present disclosure may be used to express proteins or peptides of interest into a host's cells and to trigger an immune response towards an antigenic portion of the proteins or peptides in a mammal. The vectors may be used for experimental research, for pre-clinical or clinical application. The vectors disclosed herein induce both cell-mediated and humoral immune responses and may be used in DNA vaccination.

Viral promoters and compositions and methods of use thereof are provided. Compositions include viruses with impaired ability to reactivate from latency, and pharmaceutical compositions and method of use thereof. The genome of the viruses include one or more mutations that reduce expression from one or more promoters that regulate expression of viral genes during reactivation from latency. The mutation(s) are typically in a region of the viral genome that includes (i) promoter elements of the iP1 promoter of human cytomegalovirus, or the sequence of another virus corresponding thereto (e.g., an iP1 promoter homolog); (ii) promoter elements of the iP2 promoter of human cytomegalovirus, or sequence of another virus corresponding thereto (e.g., an iP2 promoter homolog); or (iii) a combination thereof. In some embodiments the virus encodes one or more heterologous antigens. The viruses can be used as vaccines to induce prophylactic and therapeutic immune responses in subjects in need thereof.

The invention relates to a viral expression construct and related viral vector and composition and to their use wherein the construct and vector comprise elements a) and b): a) a nucleotide sequence encoding an insulin operably linked to a first promoter, b) a nucleotide sequence encoding a glucokinase operably linked to a second promoter and the viral expression construct and related viral vector comprise at least one of elements c), d) and e): c) the first and the second promoters are positioned in reverse orientation within the expression construct, d) the first and the second promoters are positioned in reverse orientation within the expression construct and are located adjacent to each other and e) the first promoter is a CMV promoter, preferably a mini CMV promoter.

The invention provides a bidirectional hCMV-rhCMV promoter and recombinant vectors and recombinant virus comprising the bidirectional hCMV-rhCMV promoter operably linked to a first transgene in one direction and to a second transgene in the opposite direction. The invention also provides methods of making and using such recombinant vectors and recombinant virus.

Transcriptional units encoding Zika virus (ZIKV) premembrane (prM) and envelope (E) proteins, which upon translation form Zika virus-like particles (VLPs), are described. Use of the transcriptional units and VLPs in three different ZIKV vaccine platforms is described. Immunoassay-based detection methods using ZIKV VLPs are described for the diagnosis of ZIKV infection.

Human cytomegalovirus vectors comprising heterologous antigens are disclosed. The vectors derived from the TR strain, are ganciclovir-sensitive, include active US2, US3, US6, US7 and UL131A genes, and have a deleterious or inactivating mutation in the UL82 gene preventing the expression of pp71.