The present invention pertains to a dendritic cell-based vaccine against rh--Syn, -synuclein specific peptide antibodies and related vaccines, and methods of treating, preventing, and/or vaccinating against Parkinson's Disease (PD), or symptoms thereof.

The invention provides compositions for treating or preventing T1D (T1D), the compositions comprising one or more antigen presenting cells (APC) that have been pulsed with one or more bacteria and/or components of the bacteria, wherein the bacteria or their components confer upon the APCs the ability to inhibit the generation of diabetes-promoting T cells. The subject invention also provides a method of treating or preventing T1D in a subject, the method comprising administering APC that have been pulsed with one or more bacteria and/or components of the bacteria and wherein the bacteria or their components confer upon the APCs the ability to inhibit the generation of diabetes-promoting T cells.

The invention concerns a method of preparing a composition comprising stimulated immune system cells such as dendritic cells (DC) for use in inducing immune response of cytotoxic T lymphocytes against colorectal cancer. The dendritic cells are pulsed by contact with colorectal cancer stem cells (CSC) or their fragments thereof. These colorectal CSCs are produced by OSKM (Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and c-Myc) induced reprogramming of differentiated colorectal cancer cells (CRC) which results in undifferentiated colorectal CSC-like cells. Both the CSC-like cells and the lysates of heat-shocked CSC-like cells could be used as an accessible source of tumour antigens for DC pulsing to induce specific immune responses against colorectal CSCs.

The present invention relates to an ex vivo, fast and efficient process to obtain activated antigen-presenting cells that are useful for therapies against cancer and immune system-related diseases. At the same time, it is related to a cellular composition that contributes to stimulate the activated antigen-presenting cells to induce a specific immune response against tumors in patients with cancer or other pathologies involving immune responses.

Disclosed are: a virus vector in which a gene encoding an antigenic polypeptide is integrated in human parainfluenza virus type 2 gene, wherein the antigenic polypeptide is expressed in the form of a fusion protein with a viral structural protein; and a method for producing the same. The virus vector of the present invention contains a quantitatively large amount of the antigenic peptide on the virus particle and can efficiently deliver the antigenic polypeptide to a target cell.

Peptides and vaccine compositions comprising peptides based upon EGFRvIII and lacking a glycine at the splice junction are disclosed. The vaccines can induce immune responses against EGFRvIII. Methods of inhibiting formation or growth of EGFvIII tumors, methods of inducing regression of EGFvIII tumors, methods of immunizing against EGFvIII tumors and methods of treating a subjects who have EGFvIII tumors are disclosed.

A method of producing a population of CD8+ Tc9 lymphocytes is provided including priming a population of nave CD8+ T cells by contacting the population of nave CD8+ T cells with an immunogenic peptide, in the presence of a Tc9 supportive environment, thereby producing a population of CD8+ Tc9 lymphocytes which secrete IL-9. Purified populations of CD8+ Tc9 cells are also disclosed herein, as are method for their use in the treatment of cancer in a subject.

A vaccine containing AAH-loaded mature dendritic cells for treatment of AAH-expressing tumors in mammalian subjects. A method of producing primed dendritic cells is carried out by contacting isolated dendritic cells with an antigen such as AAH. Following the antigen-contacting step, the dendritic cells are contacted with a combination of cytokines such as GM-CSF and IFN-.

Isolated CDCA1-derived epitope peptides having Th1 cell inducibility are disclosed herein. Such peptides can be recognized by MHC class II molecules and induce Th1 cells. In preferred embodiments, such a peptide of the present invention can promiscuously bind to MHC class II molecules and induce CDCA1-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) in addition to Th1 cells. Such peptides are thus suitable for use in enhancing immune response in a subject, and accordingly find use in cancer immunotherapy, in particular, as cancer vaccines. Also disclosed herein are polynucleotides that encode any of the aforementioned peptides, APCs and Th1 cells induced by such peptides and methods of induction associated therewith. Pharmaceutical compositions that comprise any of the aforementioned components as active ingredients find use in the treatment and/or prevention of cancers or tumors.

The present invention concerns methods and compositions for treatment of HIV infection using a T20 expression vector, such as that shown in SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:3. The T20 expression vector may be used in a variety of therapeutic applications, such as ex vivo transfection of dendritic cells to induce a host immune response to HIV, localized transfection in vivo in a gene therapy approach to provide longer term delivery of T20, or in vitro production of T20 peptide. The T20 may be secreted into the circulation to act as a fusion inhibitor of HIV infection, or may induce an endogenous immune response to HIV or HIV-infected cells. Alternatively, a DDD peptide may be incorporated in a fusion protein comprising T20 or another antigenic protein or peptide to enhance the immune response to the protein or peptide.