Provided herein are methods and compositions for the treatment and/or prevention of COVID-19 through the induction of an immune response against identified SARS-COV-2 immunodominant peptides.

The present invention provides compositions and methods for immunotherapy, which include shelf-stable pharmaceutical compositions for inducing antigen-specific T cells. Such compositions are employed as components of an artificial antigen presenting cell (aAPC), to provide a patient with complexes for presentation of an antigen (e.g., a tumor antigen) and/or a T cell co-stimulatory molecule.

The present invention relates to a vaccine comprising a nucleic acid construct such as a DNA construct especially a nucleic acid construct comprising sequences encoding invariant chain operatively linked to antigenic protein or peptide encoding sequences. The present vaccine stimulates an enhanced immune response.

The present disclosure provides T-cell modulatory multimeric polypeptides that comprise an immunomodulatory N polypeptide, a MUC1 epitope-presenting peptide, and class I MHC polypeptides. A T-cell modulatory multimeric polypeptide is useful for modulating the activity of a T cell, and for modulating an immune response in an individual. The present disclosure provides a T-cell modulatory multimeric polypeptide (TMMP) comprising: a) a first polypeptide; and b) a second polypeptide, wherein the TMMP comprises a MUC1 peptide; a first major histocompatibility complex (MHC) polypeptide; a second MHC polypeptide; one or more immunomodulatory polypeptides; and optionally an immunoglobulin (Ig) Fc polypeptide or a non-lg scaffold.

The present invention relates an in vitro method for detecting class II restricted CD4+ T cells in a sample. Herein a sample is contacted with an isolated complex of an MHC class II molecule and a peptide. This peptide comprises an MHC class II restricted T cell epitope of an antigenic protein and immediately adjacent thereof, or separated by a linker of at most 7 amino acids a sequence with a [CST]-xx-C or C-xx-[CST] motif. CD4+ T cells are detected by measuring the binding of the complex with cells in the sample, wherein the binding of the complex to a cell is indicative for the presence of CD4+ T cells in the sample. The present invention further relates to an isolated complex of an MHC Class II molecule and a peptide comprising an MHC class II restricted T cell epitope of an antigenic protein and immediately adjacent thereof, or separated by a linker of at most 7 amino acids a sequence with a [CST]-xx-C or C-xx-[CST] motif.

The present invention relates to T cell receptors (TCRs) that bind the HLA-A*02 restricted peptide SLLQHLIGL (SEQ ID NO: 1) derived from the germline cancer antigen PRAME. Said TCRs may comprise non-natural mutations within the alpha and/or beta variable domains relative to a native PRAME TCR. The TCRs of the invention are particularly suitable for use as novel immunotherapeutic reagents for the treatment of malignant disease.

The present invention relates to peptides, proteins, nucleic acids and cells for use in immunotherapeutic methods. In particular, the present invention relates to the immunotherapy of cancer. The present invention furthermore relates to tumor-associated T-cell peptide epitopes, alone or in combination with other tumor-associated peptides that can for example serve as active pharmaceutical ingredients of vaccine compositions that stimulate anti-tumor immune responses, or to stimulate T cells ex vivo and transfer into patients. Peptides bound to molecules of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), or peptides as such, can also be targets of antibodies, soluble T-cell receptors, and other binding molecules.

The present disclosure provides T-cell modulatory multimeric polypeptide epitope conjugates comprising an immunomodulatory polypeptide (“MOD”) that may be selected to exhibit reduced binding affinity to a cognate co-immunomodulatory polypeptide (“Co-MOD”) and a conjugated Wilms tumor-1 (WT-1) epitope presenting peptide. The T-Cell-MMP-epitope conjugates are useful for modulating the activity of a T-cell by delivering immunomodulatory peptides, such as IL-2 or IL-2 variants that exhibit reduced binding affinity for IL-2R, to the T-cells in a WT-1 epitope selective/specific manner, and accordingly, for treating individuals, particularly those with acute myeloid leukemia, myeloma, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, Wilms tumor, mesothelioma, soft tissue sarcoma, neuroblastoma, or nephroblastoma.

The present invention relates to peptides, nucleic acids and cells for use in immunotherapeutic methods. In particular, the present invention relates to the immunotherapy of cancer. The present invention furthermore relates to tumor-associated cytotoxic T cell (CTL) peptide epitopes, alone or in combination with other tumor-associated peptides that serve as active pharmaceutical ingredients of vaccine compositions that stimulate anti-tumor immune responses. The present invention relates to 30 peptide sequences and their variants derived from HLA class I and class II molecules of human tumor cells that can be used in vaccine compositions for eliciting anti-tumor immune responses.

The disclosure relates to polypeptides and pharmaceutical compositions comprising polypeptides that find use in the prevention or treatment of cancer, in particular breast cancer, ovarian cancer and colorectal cancer. The disclosure also relates to methods of inducing a cytotoxic T cell response in a subject or treating cancer by administering pharmaceutical compositions comprising the peptides, and companion diagnostic methods of identifying subjects for treatment. The peptides comprise T cell epitopes that are immunogenic in a high percentage of patients.