The present invention relates to methods, polypeptides and compositions of said polypeptides and/or their encoding nucleic acids for the prophylactic vaccination and/or therapeutic treatment of cancer, and the use of polypeptides in treating and/or preventing cancer, and/or improving the therapeutic efficacy of agents for the treatment of cancer.

The present invention relates to antigen-based immunotherapy, in particular cancer immunotherapy. In particular, the present invention provides antigenic peptides, which are distinct from, but have amino acid similarity to, fragments of human tumor antigens. The present invention further provides immunogenic compounds, nanoparticles, cells and pharmaceutical compositions comprising such antigenic peptides and nucleic acids encoding such antigenic peptides.

The present invention provides improved LAMP Constructs comprising specific fragments of the LAMP lumenal domain to deliver antigens to immune cells for enhanced processing. These LAMP Constructs can be used for the treatment of disease and in particular, allergies, infectious disease, diabetes, hyperproliferative disorders and/or cancer. The improved LAMP Constructs allow for presentation of properly configured three dimensional epitopes for production of an immune response when administered to a subject. The improved LAMP Constructs can be multivalent molecules, and/or can be provided as part of a multivalent vaccine containing two or more LAMP Constructs. The improved LAMP Constructs as described herein can also be used to generate antibodies when administered to a non-human vertebrate.

The present disclosure relates to mRNA, self-replicating RNA, and temperature-sensitive, self-replicating RNA encoding a cancer antigen. The RNA constructs are suitable for cancer immunotherapy in a mammalian subject, such as a human subject.

A method is presented for screening cells that produce allogeneic autophagosome enriched compositions able to induce expression of a selective marker on a subpopulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells, the method comprising contacting a cell with a proteasome inhibitor, contacting the cell with a lysosome inhibitor, harvesting the resulting autophagosomes, determining a molecular signature of the harvested autophagosomes, and selecting cells that divert one or more Toll-like receptor agonist and/or one or more molecular chaperones to the harvested autophagosomes. By screening for cells that divert one or more Toll-like receptor agonist and/or one or more molecular chaperones to the harvested autophagosomes, enriched populations of autophagosomes may be generated which may illicit a specific immune response against numerous cancer types. In this way, an allogeneic, off-the-shelf cancer vaccine may be produced and made available to be administered in order to stimulate a targeted immune response in patients bearing different tumor types.

A method is presented for screening cells that produce allogeneic autophagosome enriched compositions able to induce expression of a selective marker on a subpopulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells, the method comprising contacting a cell with a proteasome inhibitor, contacting the cell with a lysosome inhibitor, harvesting the resulting autophagosomes, determining a molecular signature of the harvested autophagosomes, and selecting cells that divert one or more Toll-like receptor agonist and/or one or more molecular chaperones to the harvested autophagosomes. By screening for cells that divert one or more Toll-like receptor agonist and/or one or more molecular chaperones to the harvested autophagosomes, enriched populations of autophagosomes may be generated which may illicit a specific immune response against numerous cancer types. In this way, an allogeneic, off-the-shelf cancer vaccine may be produced and made available to be administered in order to stimulate a targeted immune response in patients bearing different tumor types.

The present disclosure provides methods, vaccines and kits for potentiating an immune response to an antigen in a subject. The methods comprise administering to the subject at least one dose of a depot-forming vaccine comprising one or more antigens in a hydrophobic carrier; and subsequently administering to the subject at least one dose of a non-depot-forming vaccine comprising the one or more antigens.

This invention provides methods for treating cancer in a subject comprising administering to the subject an anti-PD-1 antibody and an anti-CD27 antibody. In some embodiments, the cancer is colorectal cancer, rectal cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer, melanoma, ovarian cancer, head and neck cancer, or any combination thereof.

Personalized cancer vaccines are created by predicting whether a first neoantigen or a second neoantigen of an individual cancer patient has a stronger binding affinity for a human leukocyte antigen (HLA) complex of the patient and creating a particle containing the neoantigen with the stronger predicted binding affinity. Such a predicting step includes artificial intelligence, statistical modeling, or a combination thereof. Such a particle is created by encapsulating the neoantigen with the stronger predicted binding affinity for the HLA complex of the patient in a material. Placing the antigen in a particular sized particle is referred to here as Size Exclusion Antigen Presentation Control, (SEAPAC) used in methods of treating the patient using such a personalized cancer vaccine.

Disclosed herein are nucleic acid molecules comprising one or more nucleic acid sequences that encode synthetic consensus Survivin antigens. Vectors, compositions, and vaccines comprising one or more nucleic acid sequences that encode synthetic consensus Survivin antigens are disclosed. Methods of treating a subject with a Survivin-expressing tumor and methods of preventing a Survivin-expressing tumor are disclosed. Synthetic consensus Survivin antigens are disclosed.