The present invention includes compositions and methods for the expression, secretion and use of novel compositions for use as, e.g., vaccines and antigen delivery vectors, to delivery antigens to antigen presenting cells. In one embodiment, the vector is an anti-CD40 antibody, or fragments thereof, and one or more antigenic peptides linked to the anti-CD40 antibody or fragments thereof, including humanized antibodies.

The disclosure provides, e.g., compositions and methods for modulating a host response to a Gene Writer system. In some embodiments, modulation of the host response results in increased integration of a heterologous nucleic acid sequence of interest into a target genome. In some embodiments, modulation of the host response results in an increased stability, e.g., maintenance of an insertion or expression thereof. In some embodiments, modulation of the host response results in decreased cytotoxicity.

Provided herein are HIV-1 vaccines comprising a carrier and a population episensus antigen determined using the EpiGraph approach. Also provided are HIV-1 vaccines comprising a carrier, a population episensus antigen, and a tailored antigen. Also provided are methods of designing and producing an HIV-1 vaccine for a subject comprising designing vaccine antigens to optimally cover the diversity within a geographic area using an antigen amino acid sequence generated using the EpiGraph approach, and producing said designed vaccine antigen. Also provided are methods of inducing an effector memory T cell response comprising designing the one or more EpiGraph amino acid sequences, producing a vaccine comprising the one or more EpiGraph amino acid sequences and a vector, and administering the vaccine to a subject. Further provided are methods of treating HIV-1 in a subject comprising administering an effective amount of the described HIV-1 vaccines to the subject in need thereof.

A preparation method of an interfering peptide targeting SARS-CoV-2 N protein includes the following steps: designing an interfering peptide segment targeting amino acids located in a dimerization domain of the SARS-CoV-2 N protein; fusing the interfering peptide segment with HIV-TAT; modifying the interfering peptide segment fused with HIV-TAT into a reverse isomer to obtain an amino acid sequence of a final interfering peptide NIP-V; and synthesizing the interfering peptide NIP-V using D-amino acids as raw materials. The above-mentioned interfering peptide drug NIP-V is able to interact with the dimerization domain of the SARS-CoV-2 N protein, inhibit the oligomerization of N protein, and then relieve the inhibition for innate immunity by the N protein, so as to achieve the purpose of inhibiting the replication of SARS-CoV-2 virus in cells and animals.

The present technology provides methods and compositions for the treatment of inflammatory and/or tissue damage conditions. In particular, the use of Smad7 compositions delivered locally or systemically to a site of inflammation and/or tissue damage is described. Other specific embodiments concern treatment or prevention of side effects caused by radiation and/or chemotherapy, including but not limited to oral and gastric mucositis. Also provided are codon-optimized nucleic acids encoding for Smad7 fusion proteins.

A multimerization delivery system that can be used to deliver a cargo molecule intracellularly. The multimerization delivery system can achieve high-efficiency endocytosis of a cargo molecule and high-efficiency release thereof from an endocytic vesicle, significantly improving the cytoplasmic delivery efficiency of the cargo molecule. Once the cargo molecule is available in the cytoplasm, the cargo molecule can play any role related thereto. The multimerization delivery system provides an effective means for affecting the biological mechanisms and pathways of cells, and can be used in various fields such as research, treatment, and diagnosis.

A method for treating a cancer comprises administering to a subject in need of such treatment an effective amount of a pharmaceutical composition comprising an anti-cancer agent having at least one secretion modifying region (SMR) peptide from HIV-1 Nef fused to at least one cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) or at least one Clusterin (Clu)-binding peptide (Clu-BP).

The present invention provides a lentiviral vector genome comprising at least one modified viral cis-acting sequence, wherein at least one internal open reading frame (ORF) in the viral cis-acting sequence is disrupted.

Provided herein are HIV-1 vaccines comprising a carrier and a population episensus antigen determined using the EpiGraph approach. Also provided are HIV-1 vaccines comprising a carrier, a population episensus antigen, and a tailored antigen. Also provided are methods of designing and producing an HIV-1 vaccine for a subject comprising designing vaccine antigens to optimally cover the diversity within a geographic area using an antigen amino acid sequence generated using the EpiGraph approach, and producing said designed vaccine antigen. Also provided are methods of inducing an effector memory T cell response comprising designing the one or more EpiGraph amino acid sequences, producing a vaccine comprising the one or more EpiGraph amino acid sequences and a vector, and administering the vaccine to a subject. Further provided are methods of treating HIV-1 in a subject comprising administering an effective amount of the described HIV-1 vaccines to the subject in need thereof.

The invention relates to HIV-1 envelope polypeptides comprising the consensus envelope of SEQ ID NO: 35, compositions comprising these envelopes and methods for using same.