The present invention relates to the fields of medical microbiology and vaccines. In particular the invention relates to a process wherein the spontaneous release of bacterial outer membrane vesicles (OMV) of Gram-negative bacteria is stimulated by application of a dissolved oxygen tension (DOT) that is higher than a physiological DOT. The thus produced OMVs are for use in vaccines. The invention further relates to OMV obtainable by said process, and to a pharmaceutical composition comprising such OMV. The present invention further relates to the use of OMV of the present invention as a medicament in particular for use in a method for eliciting an immune response.

Described herein are compositions and methods related to use of cardiosphere-derived cells and their extracellular vesicles, such as exosomes and microvesicles, for achieving anti-aging and rejuvenation. This includes discoveries for effects on heart structure, function, gene expression, and systemic parameters. For animal studies, intra-cardiac injections of neonatal rat CDCs was compared to in old and young rats including evaluation of blood, echocardiographic, haemodynamic and treadmill stress tests. For in vitro studies, human heart progenitors from older donors, or cardiomyocytes from aged rats were exposed to human CDCs or cardiosphere derived cell (CDC) derived exosomes (CDC-XO) from pediatric donors. CDCs and CDC-XOs were capable of effectuating youthful patterns of gene expression in the hearts of old, along with a variant of physiological and function benefits, including elongation of telomere length. Together, these results indicate capacity of CDCs and CDC-XO to ward off the effects of aging through rejuvenation.

Provided are vaccine compositions and methods against Streptococcus pneumoniae. The composition comprises liposomes which have polysaccharides from one or more serotypes and have proteins non-covalently attached to the surface and exposed to the exterior.

The present disclosure relates to immunostimulatory compositions that are effective in eliciting immune responses in avian species. More specifically, these immunostimulatory compositions comprise an immunomodulator composition and an immunostimulatory oligonucleotide that when administered stimulate toll-like receptor 21.

The present invention in particular relates to a method of producing an immunogenic composition exhibiting reduced virucidal activity, as well as to the immunogenic composition and uses thereof, wherein the method in particular comprises the steps of: (a) providing a mixture with a first liquid and a recombinant protein, (b) concentrating the recombinant protein in the mixture by removing a portion of the first liquid from the mixture, and (c) processing the solution resulting from step (b) by continuous diafiltration.

The present invention relates to small lipid nanoparticles, a small lipid nanoparticle (SLNP)-based nanovaccine platform including same, and a combination treatment regimen with an immune checkpoint inhibitor. Lipid nanoparticies according to the present invention can easily deliver antigens and anionic drugs into cells, and exhibit strong anti-tumor effects when loaded with tumor-associated antigens. Particularly, a cancer vaccine kit according to the present invention including lipid nanoparticles according to the present invention as a first vaccine composition and lipid nanoparticles and an immune checkpoint inhibitor as a second vaccine composition can be used to effectively suppress tumor regrowth and recurrence triggered by the occurrence of immunosuppression against a cancer nanovaccine.

Disclosed herein are methods of delivering a polypeptide, e.g., an antibody or antigen binding portion thereof, to the central nervous system of a subject, by administering to the subject the polypeptide (e.g., antibody or antigen-binding portion thereof) conjugated to the surface of an extracellular vesicle (EV) derived from a neural cell, e.g., a neural progenitor cell or a neural stem cell. Conjugates comprising neural EVs coupled to a polypeptide, such as an antibody or antigen binding portion thereof, and methods of use thereof, are also provided. Also disclosed herein are methods of delivering a polypeptide, e.g., an antibody or antigen binding portion thereof, by administering to the subject the polypeptide (e.g., antibody or antigen-binding portion thereof) loaded within the lumen of an extracellular vesicle (EV) derived from neural cells.

The present application relates to compositions capable of inducing an immune response against Varicella zoster virus, methods of administering such compositions, and methods of producing such compositions.

Disclosed are a composition for inducing immunity against an active ingredient and a method for preparing same, the composition comprising: a nucleic acid, a polypeptide, or a combination thereof as the active ingredient; a cationic compound; an amphiphilic block copolymer; and a polylactate, wherein the active ingredient is encapsulated in a nanoparticle structure formed by the amphiphilic block copolymer and the polylactate.

The present invention provides a vaccine for preventing and/or treating infections with human papillomavirus. The present invention relates to a lipid particle encapsulating a nucleic acid molecule capable of expressing the E6 and E7 antigens of human papillomavirus, wherein the lipid comprises a cationic lipid represented by general formula (Ia) or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof:

##STR00001##

wherein R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 each independently represent a C.sub.1-C.sub.3 alkyl group;
L.sup.1 represents a C.sub.17-C.sub.19 alkenyl group which may have one or a plurality of C.sub.2-C.sub.4 alkanoyloxy groups;
L.sup.2 represents a C.sub.10-C.sub.19 alkyl group which may have one or a plurality of C.sub.2-C.sub.4 alkanoyloxy groups or a C.sub.10-C.sub.19 alkenyl group which may have one or a plurality of C.sub.2-C.sub.4 alkanoyloxy groups; and
p is 3 or 4.