Provided herein are vaccine combinations and methods for enhancing an antigen specific T cell induced response in a subject in need thereof. The methods combine systemic vaccination with a first composition containing a non-replicating viral vector encoding an antigen or immunogen containing one or more CD8+ T cell epitopes; and/or a second composition with micelles containing fluorocarbon-linked peptides, wherein each peptide linked to the fluorocarbon is: i) 15 to 75 amino acid residues long; ii) from the antigen or immunogen of the first composition; and, iii) contains one or more of the CD8+ T cell epitopes of the first composition from the antigen or immunogen to induce antigen specific CD8+ T cells; and optionally a third composition comprising an immune modulator composition.

It is disclosed herein that B cells, not dendritic cells or myeloid-derived populations, are primary human antigen presenting cells for plasmid DNA. Based on this finding, improved methods and compositions for administering DNA vaccines are disclosed. Specifically, DNA vaccines are co-administered with a B cell targeting agent, B-cell recruiting agent, or a monocyte or dendritic cell recruiting agent. To increase the immunogenicity of the DNA vaccines, the B cell targeting agent or B cell recruiting agent is administered at the same location where the DNA vaccine is administered. In contrast, the monocyte or dendritic cell recruiting agent can be administered in a different location, in order to recruit cells competing with the B cells for DNA uptake away from the location where the DNA vaccine is administered.

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.

In various embodiments nanoparticle drug delivery vehicles are provided that specifically deliver a cargo to a target pathogenic organism. In certain embodiments the drug delivery vehicle comprises a mesoporous silica nanoparticle comprising a plurality of pores and an outer surface through which the pores are disposed; a cargo disposed in the pores; one or more antigens attached to the surface of the nanoparticle; an antibody that specifically binds the antigens and are bound to the antigens, wherein the antibody inhibits diffusion of the cargo out of the pores and permit release of the cargo when the drug delivery vehicle is in the presence of the antigen or a pathogen displaying the antigen.

A method of producing dendritic gold nanoparticles by combining a gold precursor solution, a reducing agent, and a bifunctional peptide having an amine-rich amino acid sequence into a buffered aqueous solution in a single container, and agitating the mixture causing the formation of the dendritic gold nanoparticles having a surface with a positive charge and a second end portion of the bifunctional peptide exposed on the surface of the dendritic gold nanoparticles. The dendritic gold nanoparticles may be used to deliver therapeutic, diagnostic, and/or immunogenic amino acid sequences as portions of the bifunctional peptide.

The methods include selectively reducing or expanding T cells according to the antigenic specificity of the T cells. Therefore, the present invention can be used to reduce or eliminate pathogenic T cells that recognize autoantigens, such as beta cell specific T cells. As such, the present invention can be used to prevent, treat or ameliorate autoimmune diseases such as IDDM. Furthermore, the present invention can be used to expand desirable T cells, such as anti-pathogenic T cells to prevent, treat and/or ameliorate autoimmune diseases.

This invention relates to outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) from Gram-negative bacteria. The vesicles comprise heterologous proteins or immunogenic fragments thereof expressed as lipoproteins in their membrane. The OMVs of the invention are capable of eliciting an immune response to the heterologous protein or to a fragment thereof when administered to a mammal. Other aspects of the invention relate to methods of preparing the OMVs and immunogenic compositions containing the same.

A method of killing cells of a targeted cell type in a patient body that utilizes nanoparticles having a first portion, which when exposed to a target portion of a targeted cell type, binds to the target portion and a second portion, joined to the first portion, and comprised of a low resistivity material. The nanoparticles are introduced into a contact area where they contact cells of the targeted cell type. Contemporaneously, the contact area is exposed to a varying magnetic field of insufficient strength to increase the temperature of any part of the patient body by more than ten degrees Celsius, but which creates a current at the nanoparticles sufficient to disrupt function of the targeted cell type.

The present invention relates to adenoviral vectors, wherein the viral capsid has been coated with polypeptides, which are capable of stimulating a peptide-specific immune response in a subject and uses thereof. Furthermore, the present invention relates to methods of treating diseases, e.g. cancer, by adenoviral vectors which have been coated by polypeptides causing peptide-specific immune response. Also the present invention relates to a method of coating adenoviral vectors by specific peptides as well as to a method of identifying those peptides suitable for coating the capsid of an adenoviral vector.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a nanoparticle based platform, and nanoallergens for identifying, evaluating and studying allergen mimotopes as multiple copies of a single mimotope or various combinations on the same particle. The nanoparticle is extremely versatile and allows multivalent binding to IgEs specific to a variety of mimotopes, simulating allergen proteins. Nanoparticles can include various molecular ratios of components. For example, the nanoallergens can include about 0.1-40% mimotope-lipid conjugate and about 60-99.9% lipid. The mimotope-lipid conjugate includes a mimotope, a first linker, and lipid molecule. Nanoallergens can be used in in vitro and in vivo applications to identify a specific patient's sensitivity to a set of epitopes and predict a symptomatic clinical response, identify allergen epitopes through blind screening peptide sequences from allergen protein, and in a clinical application similar to a scratch test.