The invention relates to building a chimeric polypeptide used for preventing or treating a Flaviviridae infection. The use of the inventive chimeric polypeptide for producing recombinant viral vectors such as a measles living viral vector is also disclosed.

The present invention relates to a vector(s) containing and expressing an optimized HIV EnvF gene, methods for making the same and cell substrates qualified for vaccine production which may comprise vector(s) containing optimized HIV genes.

The present invention relates to a recombinant virus of the family Paramyxoviridae, comprising at least one expressible polynucleotide encoding a multispecific binding polypeptide, said multispecific binding polypeptide comprising a first binding domain binding to a surface molecule of an immune cell with antitumor activity, preferably a lymphocyte, more preferably a T cell or a dendritic cell, and a second binding domain binding to a tumor-associated antigen; to a polynucleotide encoding the same, and to a kit comprising the same. Moreover, the present invention relates to a method for treating cancer in a subject afflicted with cancer, comprising contacting said subject with a recombinant virus of the family Paramyxoviridae of the invention, and thereby, treating cancer in a subject afflicted with cancer.

The present invention provides purification strategies for sterically demanding, i.e. large and pleomorphic, infectious virus particles or VLPs derived therefrom, preferably having a measles virus scaffold to yield fractions or compositions with a significantly reduced content of contaminating host cell DNA and a reduced content of further process-related impurities. Further provided are methods of propagating and purifying infectious virus particles having a measles virus scaffold suitable to provide a preparation having a strongly reduced content of contaminating host cell DNA and a reduced content of further process-related impurities for immunogenic or anti-tumor purposes. In addition, immunogenic and vaccine compositions based on the above methods are provided. Finally, there are provided immunogenic or vaccine compositions produced by the disclosed methods, which are suitable for use in immunogenic or prophylactic vaccination treatment of a subject in need thereof.

Disclosed herein is a method of making an amino acid construct for the treatment and/or prevention of sarbecovirus infections, comprising: a. comparing amino acid sequences from at least two different sarbecovirus spike proteins or fragments thereof; b. identifying identical amino acids in the sequences from the at least two different sarbecovirus spike proteins or fragments thereof; c. removing any different amino acids from the sequences of the at least two different sarbecovirus spike proteins or fragments thereof to identify a unique amino acid sequence; and d. forming the amino acid construct of the unique amino acid sequence wherein the amino acid construct has at least 90% sequence identity to the at least two different sarbecovirus spike proteins or fragments thereof. Also disclosed are amino acid sequences generated using the method of the invention.

The present invention provides a recombinant measles virus useful as a live vaccine against COVID-19 and a vector used for production of the recombinant measles virus. That is, the present invention relates to a recombinant measles virus having a gene encoding a protein of the coronavirus SARS-COV-2 inserted between the N gene region and the P gene region in a measles virus genome; the recombinant measles virus in which the protein is a spike protein of SARS-COV-2 or a partial protein thereof; and a DNA in which a gene encoding a protein of SARS-COV-2 is inserted in a region ranging from the 1,686th base to the 1,694th base of a base sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 2.

The present invention relates to novel canine distemper virus (CDV) neutralization-resistant mutants, methods for making the same and uses for vaccine production.

The invention relates to a recombinant measles virus expressing a heterologous amino acid sequence derived from an antigen of a determined RNA virus, said recombinant measles virus being capable of eliciting a humoral and/or cellular immune response against measles virus or against said RNA virus or against both measles virus and against said RNA virus. It also relates to the use of said recombinant measles virus for the preparation of immunogenic composition.

Engineered fusion proteins comprising a self-excising degron for controlling protein production are disclosed. In particular, the inventors have constructed fusion proteins comprising a degron connected to a protein of interest through a cleavable linker comprising a hepatitis C virus (HCV) protease site. The degron can be removed from the protein of interest by a czs-encoded HCV protease such that the protein of interest can be produced with minimal structural modification. Clinically available HCV protease inhibitors can be used to block protease cleavage such that the degron is retained after inhibitor addition on subsequently synthesized protein copies. The degron when attached causes rapid degradation of the linked protein. Such fusions of a degron to a protein of interest will be especially useful when control over protein production with minimal structural modification is desired.

The use of targeting knottin polypeptides provides a means of selectively infecting target cells presenting species bound by the knottins. The targeted viruses may be used as cytotoxic agents, for example, as oncolytic viral therapeutics. Alternatively, the knottin-targeted viruses may be used to transform target cells in a gene therapy or immunotherapy context. An effective retargeted measles virus directed to integrins is demonstrated.