The invention relates to a composition and related methods for reducing tumor volume and/or increasing the survival of a cancer patient. The composition comprises a recombinant MVA encoding a Tumor Associated Antigen (“TAA”) as well as 4-1BBL and/or CD40L and can be administered to a subject in any suitable manner, including by intravenous and/or intratumoral administration.

Provided herein are interleukin-13 receptor α2 peptide-based brain cancer vaccines and methods for treating and vaccinating against brain cancer comprising administering to patients in need thereof interleukin-13 receptor α2 peptide-based brain cancer vaccines. Also provided herein are regimens comprising interleukin-13 receptor α2 peptides and at least one additional peptide and/or immunostimulant.

The present disclosure relates to compositions and methods for targeting antigenically variable pathogens and diseases. Embodiments of the present disclosure involve of the construction of variable epitope libraries (VELs) containing mutated versions of epitopes derived from antigens associated with various diseases for treating subjects in both therapeutic and prophylactic settings. The present disclosure also provides compositions and methods for the production of VELs based on CTL-derived epitopes of survivin, an oncogenic inhibitor-of-apoptosis. Given the large number of potential epitopes expressed in tumors, and the dynamic nature of the tumor epitope landscape, there is a need to develop compositions and methods for targeting various antigenic epitopes to counteract immune escape.

A method of treating cancer comprising and reducing autoimmune side effects in administration of anti-CTLA-4 antibodies. The invention provides methods for low dose immune checkpoint (IC) treatment of metastatic cancer by delivering anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD-1 antibodies to cancer patients. Methods also provide for IL-2 stimulation for the activation of T cells against tumor cells. The invention further provides methods for daily cyclic high fever response (hyperthermia) during IL-2 therapy. The methods provide treatment of metastatic cancer without unacceptable autoimmune side effects.

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 application relates generally to methods for treating hematologic malignancy such as diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), and in particular to methods involving detecting the expression of Programmed Death-Ligand 1 (PD-L1) in a biological sample of the subject and administering a T cell activation therapeutic with an inhibitor of PD-L1 or Programmed Death 1 (PD-1). It was surprisingly found that the level of PD-L1 expression correlates with the clinical responses with the T cell activation therapeutic together with an inhibitor of PD-L1 or PD-1 in the treatment of hematologic malignancies, thus, making PD-L1 an unexpected biomarker for the treatment of DLBCL.

A polypeptide for use in medicine is provided. The polypeptide is administered simultaneously, separately or sequentially with an immune checkpoint inhibitor. The polypeptide comprises at least one polypeptide comprising a region of at least 12 amino acids of a self-antigen or a sequence having at least 80% identity to the region. The polypeptide is less than 100 amino acids in length.

The invention concerns a variant (double mutant form) of the survivin polypeptide; nucleic acid molecules encoding the survivin variant; antigen presenting cells (APCs) such as dendritic cells, or APC precursors, comprising the variant survivin polypeptide or encoding nucleic acid sequence; and methods for treating a malignancy, such as myeloma, or for inducing an immune response, utilizing a variant survivin polypeptide, nucleic acid molecule, or APC.

The present invention provides a combination of an agonist of stimulator of interferon response cGAMP interactor 1 (STING) and a vaccine including specific antigens or antigenic epitopes, namely, a complex comprising a cell penetrating peptide, at least one antigen or antigenic epitope, and a TLR peptide agonist. Such a combination is particularly useful in medicine, in particular in the prevention and/or treatment of cancer. Moreover, the present invention also provides compositions, such as a pharmaceutical compositions and vaccines, which are useful, for example, in the prevention and/or treatment of cancer.

Provided is a pharmaceutical composition, including an antigen fusion protein which includes an antigen and an antagonist of an Fc gamma receptor. Also provided is a method of enhancing immunogenicity of an antigen, including conjugating the antigen with an antagonist of an Fc gamma receptor to form an antigen fusion protein. Also provided is a method of enhancing an immune response to an antigen in a subject, including administering to the subject an effective amount of an antigen fusion protein which includes an antigen and an antagonist of an Fc gamma receptor. The present invention may be applied in the development of potent vaccines based on targeting vaccine antigens to antigen-presenting cells via binding to Fc gamma receptors.