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.

The present invention relates to a PD-L1 peptide fragment, useful in cancer therapies as well as PD-L1 peptide fragments for use in a method for treatment or prevention of a cancer, when administered simultaneously or sequentially with an additional cancer therapy.

Disclosed are compositions comprising an expressible nucleic acid sequence comprising a first nucleic acid sequence comprising a leader sequence or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof; and a second nucleic acid sequence comprising a sequence that encodes a trimer of a retroviral envelope or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. In some embodiments, the expressible nucleic acid sequence further comprises a nucleic acid sequence encoding at least one viral antigen or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. In some embodiments, the expressible nucleic acid sequence further comprises at least one nucleic acid sequence encoding a linker. Also disclosed are pharmaceutical compositions comprising these compositions and methods of using the disclosed compositions.

The present invention includes an immunogenic protein, constructs, vectors, and methods of making, comprising at least 90% amino acid identity to at least one antigenic peptide selected from: a coronavirus Receptor Binding Domain (RBD), coronavirus a Receptor Binding Motif (RBM) of a coronavirus spike protein, a coronavirus spike protein N-terminus, a nucleocapsid protein, one or more T cell epitopes from a coronavirus spike protein, or one or more T cell epitopes from a coronavirus nucleocapsid protein, or combination thereof. In one example, the at least one antigenic peptide is positioned at, at least one of, the N-terminus, the C-terminus, or in a loop region of the carrier protein or peptide tag.

In the various aspects and embodiments, this disclosure provides messenger RNA (mRNA) constructs for therapeutic delivery, as well as methods for making such mRNA constructs and pharmaceutical compositions comprising the same (including mRNA vaccine compositions). In still other aspects, the invention provides methods for treating patients by expression of therapeutic proteins, including for preventing or reducing probability of infection by, or illness involving, a virus. Exemplary viruses include coronaviruses (such as SARS-CoV-2 and variants therefore) and influenza viruses, among others.

Provided herein are methods of inducing an immune response against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in a subject in need thereof by administering an immunogenic composition to the subject, wherein the subject exhibits: an increase in antigen-specific cellular immune response as measured by Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) Enzyme-linked Immunospot (ELISpot) assay relative to baseline; and/or an increase in neutralizing antibody response as measured by a pseudovirus neutralizing assay relative to baseline.

The present invention includes compositions and methods of making and using an immunogenic protein for mucosal delivery comprising at least 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99%, or 100% amino acid identity to a multigenic coronavirus vaccine on a modified vaccinia ankara (MVA) vector that expresses a viral nucleoprotein (N) protein and a spike (S) protein.

The present invention relates to a patient-specific tumor treatment targeting individual expression patterns of tumor antigens, in particular shared tumor antigens, and individual tumor mutations. In one aspect, the present invention relates to a method for preventing or treating cancer in a patient comprising the steps of: (i) inducing a first immune response against one or more tumor antigens in the patient, and (ii) inducing a second immune response against one or more tumor antigens in the patient wherein the second immune response is specific for cancer specific somatic mutations present in cancer cells of the patient.

Provided herein are antigen-binding proteins (ABPs) that selectively bind to TIGIT and its isoforms and homologs, and compositions comprising the ABPs. Also provided are methods of using the ABPs, such as therapeutic and diagnostic methods.

Amphiphilic oligonucleotide conjugates that enhance adjuvant function are disclosed. The conjugates typically include: a lipophilic component, and conjugated thereto (directly or indirectly) an immunomodulating oligonucleotide that, if it were not conjugated to the lipophilic component, would suppress TLR7 and/or TLR8 stimulation. In the presence of albumin, these conjugates significantly enhance adjuvant function, in particular the function of TLR7/8-mediated adjuvants such as an imidazoquinolinamine. The conjugates can be administered, along with an adjuvant compound, to a subject in order to cause and/or enhance an immune response (for instance, to an infectious agent or a cancer antigen) in the subject.