The present invention provides new stable packaging cell lines and producer cell lines as well as methods to obtain them, and a new method to produce lentiviral vectors using such cell lines. New methods and packaging cell lines of the invention are generated using a baculo-AAV hybrid system for stable expression of structural and regulatory lentiviral proteins, such system comprising a baculoviral backbone containing an integration cassette flanked by AAV ITR, in combination with a plasmid encoding rep protein. This system allows to obtain a stable integration of the structural and regulatory HIV-1 proteins gag/pol and rev. The system allows to obtain a first intermediate including only the structural and regulatory HIV proteins gag/pol and rev, to be used as starting point to obtain stable packaging cell lines as well as producer cell lines.

Circular RNA and methods and constructs for engineering circular RNA are disclosed. In some embodiments, the circular RNA includes the following elements arranged in the following sequence: a) a 3 Group I self-splicing intron fragment, b) an internal ribosome entry site (IRES), c) a protein coding region or noncoding region, and d) a 5 Group I self-splicing intron fragment.

Disclosed are methods and constructs for engineering circular RNA Disclosed is a vector for making circular RNA, said vector comprising the following elements operably connected to each other and arranged in the following sequence: a) a 5 homology arm, b) a 3 group I intron fragment containing a 3 splice site dinucleotide, c) an optional 5 spacer sequence, d) a protein coding or noncoding region, e) an optional 3 spacer sequence, f) a 5 Group I intron fragment containing a 5 splice site dinucleotide, and g) a 3 homology arm. This vector allows production of a circular RNA that is translatable or biologically active inside eukaryotic cells. In one embodiment, the vector can comprise the 5 spacer sequence, but not the 3 spacer sequence. In yet another embodiment, the vector can also comprise the 3 spacer sequence, but not the 5 spacer sequence.

The present invention relates to production of proteins in insect cells whereby repeated coding sequences are used in baculoviral vectors. In particular the invention relates to the production of parvoviral vectors that may be used in gene therapy and to improvements in expression of the viral rep proteins that increase the productivity of parvoviral vectors.

The present invention relates to retroviral particle comprising a protein derived from the Gag polyprotein, an envelope protein, optionally an integrase and at least two encapsidated non-viral RNAs, the encapsidated non-viral RNAs each comprising an RNA sequence of interest bound to an encapsidation sequence, each encapsidation sequence being recognized by a binding domain introduced into the protein derived from the Gag polyprotein and/or into the integrase, and at least one of said sequences of interest of the encapsidated non-viral RNAs comprises a part coding at least one epitope and/or at least one molecular structure specifically recognizing an epitope.

In certain embodiments, the disclosure relates to vectors containing bacterial nucleic acid sequences and a paramyxovirus gene. Typically, the expression vector comprises a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC), and a nucleic acid sequence comprising a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) gene in operable combination with a regulatory element and optionally a reporter gene.

The method disclosed herein describes a novel technology offering unparalleled efficiency, flexibility, utility and speed for the stable integration of transgenes into lymphocytes and other mammalian cells. The novel method is based on the use of an mRNA-encoded transposase (e.g. sleeping beauty transposase) in combination with a minicircle DNA-encoded transposable element. The novel method enables higher gene-transfer rates and is at the same time less toxic than the conventional approach, which is the use of plasmid DNA-encoded transposase in combination with a plasmid DNA-encoded transposable element. Applications of the invention include but are not limited to the stable integration of a transgene encoding an immune receptor (e.g. a T-cell receptor or synthetic chimeric antigen receptor) into human T lymphocytes, with the immune receptor conferring specificity for a molecule expressed by a tumor cell. The transposase mRNA and transposon minicircle DNA may be introduced into lymphocytes by methods including but not limited to electrotransfer such as electroporation and nucleofection.

Malignant tumors that are resistant to conventional therapies represent significant therapeutic challenges. An embodiment of the present invention provides an oncolytic virus capable of killing target cells, such as tumor cells. In various embodiments presented herein, the oncolytic viruses described herein are suitable for treatment of several types of cancer, including glioblastoma.

The application describes ceDNA vectors having linear and continuous structure for delivery and expression of a transgene. ceDNA vectors comprise an expression cassette flanked by two ITR sequences, where the expression cassette encodes a transgene, e.g., selected from Table 1, encoding a PFIC therapeutic protein (e.g., ATP8B1, ABCB11, ABCB4 or TJP2). Some ceDNA vectors further comprise cis-regulatory elements, including regulatory switches. Further provided herein are methods and cell lines for reliable gene expression of PFIC therapeutic protein in vitro, exvivo and in vivo using the ceDNA vectors. Provided herein are method and compositions comprising ceDNA vectors useful for the expression of PFIC therapeutic protein in a cell, tissue or subject, and methods of treatment of diseases with said ceDNA vectors expressing PFIC therapeutic protein. Such PFIC therapeutic protein can be expressed for treating a subject with Progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC).

The present invention relates nucleic acid constructs for the production of recombinant parvoviral (e.g. adeno-associated viral) vectors in insect cells, to insect cells comprising such constructs and to methods wherein the cells are used to produce recombinant parvoviral virions. The insect cells preferably comprise a first nucleotide sequence encoding the parvoviral rep proteins whereby the initiation codon for translation of the parvoviral Rep78 protein is a suboptimal initiation codon that effects partial exon skipping upon expression in insect cells. The insect cell further comprises a second nucleotide sequence comprising at least one parvoviral (AAV) inverted terminal repeat (ITR) nucleotide sequence and a third nucleotide sequence comprising a sequences coding for the parvoviral capsid proteins.