The present invention provides bi-terminal PEGylated peptide conjugates that target an integrin such as α.sub.vβ.sub.6 integrin. In particular embodiments, the peptide conjugates of the present invention further comprise a biological agent such as an imaging agent or a therapeutic agent, e.g., covalently attached to one of the PEG moieties. The peptide conjugates of the present invention are particularly useful for imaging a tumor, organ, or tissue and for treating integrin-mediated diseases and disorders such as cancer, inflammatory diseases, autoimmune diseases, chronic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung emphysema, and chronic wounding skin disease. Compositions and kits containing the peptide conjugates of the present invention find utility in a wide range of applications including, e.g., in vivo imaging and immunotherapy.

The present disclosure provides a type A foot-and-mouth disease virus-like particle antigen assembled by VP2, VP3 and VP1 antigen proteins of an epidemic strain of type A foot-and-mouth disease virus. The type A foot-and-mouth disease virus VP2 antigen protein is encoded by a nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID No. 1 or its degenerate sequence, the type A foot-and-mouth disease virus VP3 antigen protein is encoded by a nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID No. 2 or its degenerate sequence, and the type A foot-and-mouth disease virus VP1 antigen protein is encoded by a nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID No. 3 or its degenerate sequence.

Synthetic foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) mosaic polypeptides, and nucleic acid molecules encoding the mosaic polypeptides, are described. When included as part of an FMDV genome, the mosaic polypeptides permit virus replication and assembly into FMDV particles. The mosaic polypeptide and nucleic acid compositions can be used to elicit immune responses that provide protection against a broad range of serotype O FMDV strains.

This disclosure pertains to isolated antibodies or antigen binding fragments thereof that specifically bind to the 3ABC non-structural protein of Foot-and-Mouth Disease virus (FMDV), wherein the antibodies or antigen binding fragments thereof recognize the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2, SEQ ID NO: 3, SEQ ID NO: 4, SEQ ID NO: 5, SEQ ID NO: 6 or SEQ ID NO: 12. Accordingly, this disclosure also pertains to polypeptides having an amino acid sequence selected from SEQ ID NO: 2, SEQ ID NO: 3, SEQ ID NO: 4, SEQ ID NO: 5 or SEQ ID NO: 12. Monoclonal antibody Mab 40C8 is also provided. The current disclosure also pertains to methods of detecting FMDV infection in an animal (including assays differentiating infected animals from vaccinated animals (DIVA)) and kits for performing the detection methods. Competitive ELISA kits comprising the antibody or antigen binding fragment thereof and immunoassay plates coated with the polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence selected from SEQ ID NO: 2, SEQ ID NO: 3, SEQ ID NO: 4, SEQ ID NO: 5, SEQ ID NO: 6 and/or SEQ ID NO: 12 are also provided.

Provided herein are immunoresponsive cells expressing a MUC1 targeting pCAR comprising a second generation chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and a chimeric co-stimulatory receptor (CCR). Also provided herein are methods of preparing the immunoresponsive cells and methods of directing T cell mediated immune response using the immunoresponsive cells.

The present invention provides a Hansenula engineering fungus that efficiently expresses CA10 virus-like particles and use thereof. The engineering fungus comprises a recombinant vector carrying P1 and 3CD genes of the CA10 virus, and the starting strain of the engineering fungus is uracil auxotroph. The Hansenula AU-0501, P1 and 3CD genes are optimized according to preferred codons of Hansenula. The present invention also provides a preparation method of CA10 virus-like particles, comprising: culturing engineering fungi, expressing CA10 virus-like particles, and separating and purifying virus-like particles by ultrafiltration and three-step chromatography. The CA10 virus-like particles provided by the present invention and the vaccine prepared therefrom have good immunogenicity, safety and biological activity, the process is simple, the chromatography method is adopted for purification, and large-scale preparation and purification can be realized to obtain a VLP protein stock solution with high purity (greater than 99%), which can be used to prepare a vaccine to prevent CA10 infection, with good economic value and application prospects.

The present disclosure belongs to the technical field of biological products for veterinary medicine, and specifically relates to a recombinant foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) with a reduced immunosuppressive activity, a preparation method and use thereof, and a recombinant vaccine strain. According to the present disclosure, it is firstly discovered that FMDV 3B protein has an immunosuppressive function, and key sites for exerting the immunosuppressive function are found. A recombinant FMDV vaccine strain with a lost immunosuppressive function in FMDV 3B protein is constructed by introducing amino acid mutations into three repeated copies of FMDV 3B protein.

Provided is a method to generate a recombinant virus that can stably express target proteins. The recombinant virus of the present invention is useful for producing an immunogenic composition or vaccine.

Provided herein is a nucleic acid comprising consensus amino acid sequence of foot-and-mouth disease FMDV VP1-4 coat proteins of FMDV subtypes A, Asia 1, C, O, SAT1, SAT2, and SAT3 as well as plasmids and vaccines expressing the sequences. Also provided herein is methods for generating an immune response against one or more FMDV subtypes using the vaccine as described above as well as methods for deciphering between vaccinated mammals with the vaccine and those that are infected with FMDV.

This disclosure provides modified recombinant retroviruses comprisings a transgene encoding a protein with a heterologous secretion signal, containing a 2A-peptide or peptide-like coding sequence operably linked to a heterologous polynucleotide, The disclosure further relates to cells and vector expressing or comprising such vectors and methods of using such modified vectors in the treatment of disease and disorders.