The present invention further relates to using vaccinia virus complement control protein (VCP), factor H and/or a complement control protein (CCP)-containing protein as modulator of the entry and/or replication of pathogen(s), wherein the pathogen is a virus or bacteria. The present invention further relates to a method of prevention and/or treatment of influenza A virus (IAV) infection in a subject of need thereof and to a method of modulation of the entry and/or replication of pathogen(s) in a subject of need thereof.

The disclosure relates to modified vaccinia virus vectors derived from the Copenhagen strain of vaccinia virus, as well as methods of using the same for the treatment of various cancers. The disclosure provides modified Copenhagen-derived vaccinia virus vectors that exhibit various beneficial therapeutic activities, including enhanced oncolytic activity, spread of infection, immune evasion, tumor persistence, capacity for incorporation of exogenous DNA sequences, amenability for large scale manufacturing, and safety.

This invention relates to the identification of peptide binding to ligands, and in particular to identification of epitopes expressed by microorganisms and by mammalian cells. The present invention provides polypeptides comprising the epitopes, and vaccines, antibodies and diagnostic products that utilize or are developed using the epitopes.

The present disclosure provides a replication-competent, recombinant oncolytic vaccinia virus; and compositions comprising the replication-competent, recombinant oncolytic vaccinia virus. The present disclosure also provides use of the vaccinia virus or composition for inducing oncolysis in an individual having a tumor.

The present invention relates to a tumor-targeting protein or a fragment thereof, an antibody binding thereto and a use thereof. More specifically, the present invention relates to a vector containing a nucleic acid coding for the protein A56 or a fragment thereof, and a use thereof. In addition, the present invention relates to an antibody binding to the protein A56 or a fragment thereof, and a use thereof. The vector containing the nucleic acid coding for the protein A56, a fragment thereof or a mutant thereof of the present invention uses an oncolytic virus as the vector, and thus, when administered in an individual, specifically kills only cancer cells, primarily. In addition, cancer cells which have survived even after being infected with the oncolytic virus express the protein A56 on the cell surfaces thereof, and thus may be targeted for secondary anticancer therapy. Thus, cancer may be effectively treated when the vector containing the nucleic acid coding for the protein A56 or a fragment thereof, and the antibody binding to A56, according to one embodiment of the present invention, are used.

Provided herein are methods and compositions for assaying vaccinia virus-specific T cell responses in a sample from a subject undergoing treatment with an oncolytic vaccinia virus. The compositions comprise custom peptide pools from known immunogenic vaccinia virus epitopes in an HLA-agnostic format to profile peripheral CD8+T cell responses.

The present invention relates to oncolytic vaccinia viruses which have been modified to promote anti-tumor immunity and/or reduce host immunity and/or antibody response against the virus. It is based, at least in part, on the discovery that oncolytic vaccinia virus (i) bearing a genome deletion of a gene that reduces T cell immunity (interleukin-18 binding protein); (ii) treated with a sialidase enzyme which is believed to reduce TLR2 activation and therefore the antibody response; (iii) carrying a gene that enhances cytotoxic T lymphocyte induction (e.g., TRIF) and/or (iv) reduces tumor myeloid-derived suppressor cells by reducing prostaglandin E2 reduces tumor growth. Accordingly, the present invention provides for immunooncolytic vaccinia viruses and methods of using them in the treatment of cancers.

The present invention generally relates to a process for designing a recombinant poxvirus for a therapeutic vaccine, i.e. personalized cancer vaccine, said recombinant poxvirus comprising one or more expression cassettes, each for expression of a fusion of a plurality of peptides, i.e. neopeptides, characterized in that it comprises performing by processing means (11) of a server (1) the steps of : (a) selecting a first subset of candidate peptides, wherein said peptides present transmembrane scores below a TMS threshold; b) determining an optimal distribution of the candidate peptides from said first subset to the expression cassette(s) among a plurality of possible distributions, wherein said optimal distribution presents, if there are at least two expression cassettes, the lowest range between the hydropathy scores of at least two expression cassettes; (c) for each expression cassette, determining an optimal slot allocation of the candidate peptides as function of cassette slot occupancy rule so as to select the peptide fusion with the lowest TM score; (d) determining a DNA transfer sequence comprising the nucleotide sequence of the one or more expression cassette(s) for generation of said recombinant poxvirus.

The present disclosure provides a replication-competent, recombinant oncolytic vaccinia virus, compositions comprising the vaccinia virus, and use of the vaccinia virus or composition for inducing oncolysis in an individual having a tumor.

The disclosure relates to modified orthopoxvirus vectors, as well as methods of using the same for the treatment of various cancers. The disclosure provides modified orthopoxvirus vectors that exhibit various beneficial therapeutic activities, including enhanced oncolytic activity, spread of infection, immune evasion, tumor persistence, capacity for incorporation of exogenous DNA sequences, amenability for large scale manufacturing, and safety.