Described herein are compositions and methods for signaling and antigen-presenting bifunctional receptors (SABRs) comprising one or more antigen presenting domains; and one or more signal transduction domains, wherein the one or more antigen presenting domains comprise a binding fragment of a major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecule. Various immunological functions of the SABRs are also described.

Provided is a dendritic cell therapeutic agent, and more particularly, a composition which include dendritic cells activated by peptides including a telomerase-derived peptide, the composition administered to treat an individual having disease and disorder symptoms which require target-specific treatments. Also, provided is a therapeutic method effective on diseases requiring target-specific immunotherapy. In the method, co-administration of the dendritic cell therapeutic agent and an immunotherapeutic agent including the telomerase-derived peptide results in decreased factors causing one of the disease and disorder symptoms requiring the target-specific treatment, such as cancer, in a tumor disease treatment.

The present invention relates to efficient methods for providing antigen-specific lymphoid cells. These lymphoid cells may be used to provide antigen specific T cell receptors having a defined MHC restriction and to identify immunologically relevant T cell epitopes. Furthermore, the present invention relates to antigen-specific T cell receptors and T cell epitopes and their use in immunotherapy.

The present invention relates to a composition for expanding lymphocytes comprising at least two types of cytokines selected from interleukin 2 (IL-2), interleukin 15 (IL-15) and interleukin 21 (IL-21). It further relates to a Method of preparing a population of clinically relevant lymphocytes, comprising the steps of: obtaining a body sample from a mammal in particular a tissue sample or body liquid sample, comprising at least one lymphocyte and optionally separating the cells in the body sample, culturing the body sample in-vitro to expand and/or stimulate lymphocytes in the sample wherein the culturing comprises using IL-2, IL-15 and/or IL-21, and optionally determining the presence of clinically relevant lymphocyte in the cultured sample. The present invention also relates to an immunotherapy and the population of clinically relevant lymphocytes.

This invention provides methods and compositions for using evaluating biomarker expression in a disease and providing a multi-targeted Listeria-based immunotherapeutic approach against said disease. In a related aspect, the invention relates to a method of treating a disease in a subject, the method comprising the steps of: a. obtaining a biological sample from said subject; b. evaluating the expression of a predetermined number of biomarkers in said biological sample; c. administering to said subject a composition comprising a recombinant Listeria strain, said strain comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding at least one fusion protein, wherein said fusion protein comprises a biomarker identified in said biological sample, wherein said biomarker is associated with said disease, wherein said biomarker is fused to a PEST-containing polypeptide, and wherein each fusion protein within said Listeria comprises a different biomarker, thereby treating said disease in said subject.

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.

There is provided herein, the use of mammalian derived HLA class I molecule for in vitro peptide exchange. For example, there is provided a method of producing an HLA class I molecule complexed to a pre-selected peptide comprising: (a) providing a mammalian derived HLA class I molecule complexed to an existing peptide; (b) incubating, in vitro, the HLA class I molecule complexed to the existing peptide with the pre-selected peptide, wherein the pre-selected peptide is at a concentration sufficient to replace the existing peptide to produce the HLA class I molecule complexed to the pre-selected peptide; and the HLA class I molecule comprises 1, 2, 3 and 2m domains.

Provided are a CAR library used to screen scFvs that can be functional in CAR-T cells, and an scFv manufacturing method in which the CAR library is used. A chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) library of the present invention includes nucleic acids coding for first CARs. Each of the first CARs includes a first antigen-binding domain, a first transmembrane domain, and a first intracellular signaling domain. The first antigen-binding domain includes a first single-chain antibody (scFv) to be screened for the ability to bind to a target antigen. The first scFv includes a first heavy-chain variable region and a first light-chain variable region. The first heavy-chain variable region and the first light-chain variable region meet a predetermined condition.

The present invention relates to efficient methods for providing antigen-specific lymphoid cells. These lymphoid cells may be used to provide antigen specific T cell receptors having a defined MHC restriction and to identify immunologically relevant T cell epitopes. Furthermore, the present invention relates to antigen-specific T cell receptors and T cell epitopes and their use in immunotherapy.

The present invention relates to a T cell comprising an engineered TCR-CD3 complex, wherein (a) binding of the engineered TCR-CD3 complex by a CD3 agonist results in a similar level of T cell activation compared to a T cell comprising a non-engineered TCR-CD3 complex; and (b) binding of the engineered TCR-CD3 complex by a cognate peptide-MHC complex results in a reduced level of T cell activation compared to a T cell comprising a non-engineered TCR-CD3 complex. Further encompassed are compositions comprising the T cell according to the invention and methods of uses thereof.