The present invention provides an attenuated strain of porcine pseudorabies virus (PRV), in which said attenuated strain of PRV is a variant strain of PRV with inactivation of gI/gE/11K/28K proteins. In addition, the present invention also provides a vaccine composition comprising the attenuated strain of PRV as an antigen, a preparation method and use thereof. Proved by immunogenicity and pathogenicity testing of the live vaccine, said live PRV vaccine can provide a good protection for pigs with no clinical signs observed, indicating excellent immune protection.

The present invention relates to a novel antibody against HERV-K envelope that targets a conserved region not affected by glycosylation or by native conformation, and its use in diagnostics and/or in therapy.

The invention involves generating a T cell response to subdominant antigens and using the cells to therapeutically change the cellular homeostasis and nature of the immune response. In a preferred embodiment, the cells are generated outside of the patient avoiding the influence of the patient's immunologic milieu. By stimulating and growing the T cells from a patient in a tissue culture to one or more subdominant antigens and the transplanting them into the patient, if enough cells are expanded and transplanted, the transplanted cells overwhelm the endogenous dominant T cells in the response to either break or induce immune tolerance or otherwise modify the immune response to the cells or organism expressing that antigen. When the memory cells are established they are then reflective of this new immunodominance hierarchy so that the desired therapeutic effect is long lasting. In effect, the transplantation exogenously generated T cells reactive to the subdominant antigens is recapitulating priming and rebalancing the patient's immune response to target previously subdominant antigens in the cells or organism to produce a therapeutic benefit.

The present invention provides an attenuated strain of porcine pseudorabies virus (PRV), in which said attenuated strain of PRV is a variant strain of PRV with inactivation of gI/gE/11K/28K proteins. In addition, the present invention also provides a vaccine composition comprising the attenuated strain of PRV as an antigen, a preparation method and use thereof. Proved by immunogenicity and pathogenicity testing of the live vaccine, said live PRV vaccine can provide a good protection for pigs with no clinical signs observed, indicating excellent immune protection.

The present invention is directed to novel compositions and methods against HSV (herpes simplex virus) 1 and 2. In brief, an epitope from a binding region of glycoprotein gD, important for binding or attachment of the HSV to the host cell, which is used to mediate the first essential function of infection, and three epitopes from binding regions of glycoprotein gB are used to mediate the second essential function of infection or the fusion of the HSV envelope with the cellular plasma membrane. Each of these epitopes is fused or linked with the extracellular domain of protein CD40L, to form a fusion protein, which fusion proteins are then combined in a mixture to form the inventive composition for acting against HSV 1 and 2.

The present invention is directed to novel compositions and methods against HSV (herpes simplex virus) 1 and 2. In brief, an epitope from a binding region of glycoprotein gD, important for binding or attachment of the HSV to the host cell, which is used to mediate the first essential function of infection, and three epitopes from binding regions of glycoprotein gB are used to mediate the second essential function of infection or the fusion of the HSV envelope with the cellular plasma membrane. Each of these epitopes is fused or linked with the extracellular domain of protein CD40L, to form a fusion protein, which fusion proteins are then combined in a mixture to form the inventive composition for acting against HSV 1 and 2.

The present invention relates to a method of immune activation which is effective for eliciting a non-antigen-specific immune response in a member of the bovine species. The method is particularly effective for protecting a member of the bovine species from infectious disease and treating animals inflicted with infectious disease.

Provided herein are nucleic acid sequences that encode novel consensus amino acid sequences of herpes virus antigens, as well as genetic constructs/vectors and vaccines expressing the sequences. Also provide herein are methods for generating an immune response against herpes virus using the vaccines that are provided.

CMV vectors comprising a heterologous protein antigen, an active UL131 protein (or an ortholog thereof), and an active UL128 protein (or an ortholog thereof) but lacking an active UL130 protein (or an ortholog thereof) are provided. CMV vectors comprising a heterologous protein antigen, an active UL131 protein (or an ortholog thereof), and an active UL130 protein (or an ortholog thereof) but lacking an active UL128 protein are also provided. In addition, methods of using CMV vectors to generate an immune response characterized as having at least 10% of the CD8+ T cells directed against epitopes presented by MHC Class II are provided.

A clean version of the amended Abstract is provided below:

CMV vectors comprising a heterologous protein antigen, an active UL131 protein (or an ortholog thereof), and an active UL128 protein (or an ortholog thereof) but lacking an active UL130 protein (or an ortholog thereof) are provided. CMV vectors comprising a heterologous protein antigen, an active UL131 protein (or an ortholog thereof), and an active UL130 protein (or an ortholog thereof) but lacking an active UL128 protein are also provided. In addition, methods of using CMV vectors to generate an immune response characterized as having at least 10% of the CD8+ T cells directed against epitopes presented by MHC Class II are provided.

The invention involves generating a T cell response to subdominant antigens and using the cells to therapeutically change the cellular homeostasis and nature of the immune response. In a preferred embodiment, the cells are generated outside of the patient avoiding the influence of the patient's immunologic milieu. By stimulating and growing the T cells from a patient in a tissue culture to one or more subdominant antigens and the transplanting them into the patient, if enough cells are expanded and transplanted, the transplanted cells overwhelm the endogenous dominant T cells in the response to either break or induce immune tolerance or otherwise modify the immune response to the cells or organism expressing that antigen. When the memory cells are established they are then reflective of this new immunodominance hierarchy so that the desired therapeutic effect is long lasting. In effect, the transplantation exogenously generated T cells reactive to the subdominant antigens is recapitulating priming and rebalancing the patient's immune response to target previously subdominant antigens in the cells or organism to produce a therapeutic benefit.