Provided herein are compositions and methods for regulating expression of effector molecules using regulatable transcription factors and/or activation inducible promoters.

The present invention relates to epitope peptides (or mutants thereof) for treating hepatitis B virus infection, recombinant proteins comprising such epitope peptides (or mutants thereof) and carrier proteins, and uses of such epitope peptides (or mutants thereof) and recombinant proteins. The present invention also relates to antibodies against such epitope peptides, cell lines producing said antibodies, and uses thereof. Furthermore, the present invention relates to vaccines or pharmaceutical compositions for treating or alleviating one or more symptoms associated with hepatitis B virus infection, which comprise the recombinant proteins or antibodies according to the invention, respectively.

The present disclosure provides T-cell modulatory multimeric polypeptides that comprise an immunomodulatory polypeptide that exhibits reduced binding affinity to a cognate co-immunomodulatory polypeptide. A T-cell modulatory multimeric polypeptide is useful for modulating the activity of a T cell, and for modulating an immune response in an individual.

According to embodiments, at least one polypeptide comprising at least one antiviral single domain antibody and their methods of use in antiviral treatment are provided. More specifically, embodiments provide at least one polypeptide having at least one anti-viral single domain antibody (e.g. anti-Hepatitis B Virus) for targeting a guanine-rich region of the viral DNA, inhibiting transcription of the viral DNA.

A hepatitis B virus-derived polypeptide exhibits anti-viral effects not only on HIV-1 and HBV but also on all viruses by increasing the expression of type I interferon. The hepatitis B virus-derived polypeptide has a synergistic effect when co-administered with a conventional anti-viral agent. The hepatitis B virus-derived polypeptide is effectively usable in the treatment of virus-related diseases such as AIDS or liver diseases.

The present disclosure relates to hybrid hepadnavirus core antigens including one or more epitopes of a human hepatitis B vims (HBV) antigen. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to hybrid hepadnavirus core antigens in the form of fusion proteins containing a fragment of the PreS1 region of the HBV surface antigen inserted in a woodchuck hepadnavirus core antigen. The present disclosure further relates to hybrid hepadnavirus core antigens in the form of fusions proteins containing a truncated HBV core antigen and woodchuck hepadnavirus core antigen. Also provided are nucleic acids encoding the hybrid core antigens, and the use of the hybrid core antigens and nucleic acids for treating HBV-infected individuals.

The present application provides inter alia a fusion protein comprising a polypeptide wherein the polypeptide consists of a fragment of invariant chain which is operably linked to an antigenic sequence and wherein the fragment of invariant chain consists of a portion of residues 17-97 of SEQ ID NO: 1, wherein the portion comprises at least 5 contiguous residues from residues 77-92 of SEQ ID NO: 1.

Provided are HBV immunogenic polypeptides, polynucleotides encoding such polypeptides, vectors expressing such immunogenic polypeptides for use in eliciting an immune response against HBV; pharmaceutical and immunogenic compositions and kits comprising such polypeptides, polynucleotides or vectors, and methods of use in treating and/or preventing HBV.

An examination system that recognizes a glycosylated antigen in Dane particles of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and a neutralizing antibody that recognizes the glycosylated antigen and that exhibits an infection-inhibiting activity. It was elucidated that Dane particles are associated with specific glycan structures, and this enabled the construction of a new detection system for infectious, i.e., nucleic acid-containing, hepatitis B virus particles and the provision of a neutralizing antibody that recognizes a glycosylated antigen and that exhibits an infection-inhibiting activity.

A pharmaceutical composition comprising at least two peptides of from 15 to 60 amino acids in length, selected from peptides comprising a sequence of at least 15 contiguous amino acids of one of the sequences shown in SEQ ID NOs: 1 to 4 or of a sequence having at least 80% identity to one of the sequences shown in SEQ ID NOs: to 4, wherein each peptide comprises at least one CD8+ T-cell epitope and/or at least one CD4+ T-cell epitope and wherein each peptide elicits a response in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from at least one chronically infected HBV individual in an 10 in vitroassay.