The instant invention provides materials and methods for producing immunologically active antigens derived from members of the Picornaviridae virus family. The picornavirus antigens of the invention may be in a form for use as a vaccine administered to a subject in a therapeutic treatment or for the prevention of a picornavirus infection. The picornavirus antigens of the invention may be in the form of an immunogenic composition for use in vaccines which are administered for the prevention of an Enterovirus infection. The instant invention further encompasses immunogenic compositions comprising Human enterovirus A, Human enterovirus B, Human enterovirus C, Human enterovirus D antigens and their use in vaccines for the prevention of an Enterovirus infection.

The instant invention provides materials and methods for producing immunologically active antigens derived from members of the Picornaviridae virus family. The picornavirus antigens of the invention may be in a form for use as a vaccine administered to a subject in a therapeutic treatment or for the prevention of a picornavirus infection. The picornavirus antigens of the invention may be in the form of an immunogenic composition for use in vaccines which are administered for the prevention of an Enterovirus infection. The instant invention further encompasses immunogenic compositions comprising Human enterovirus A, Human enterovirus B, Human enterovirus C, Human enterovirus D antigens and their use in vaccines for the prevention of an Enterovirus infection.

This invention relates to Virus-Like Particles (VLPs) derived from Enterovirus and vaccines comprising such VLPs which elicit immune responses and/or protective neutralizing antibody responses directed against an Enterovirus. The instant invention provides expression cassettes and methods for making Enterovirus CV-A16 VLPs and compositions enriched in CV-A16 VLPs which exhibit conformational epitopes which elicit immune responses and/or neutralizing antibody responses which may be used in vaccines directed against Enterovirus CV-A16.

The invention provides chimeric Enterovirus virus-like particles (VLPs) for protection and/or treatment against infection by more than one Enterovirus. More specifically, the present invention provides chimeric EV-A71 virus-like particles displaying CV-A16 VP1 polypeptides and at the same time maintaining important neutralizing antibody epitopes of EV-A71 itself. More specifically, the present invention provides chimeric CV-A16 virus-like particles displaying EV-A71 VP1 polypeptides. Thus, the present invention provides a bivalent vaccine comprising the chimeric virus-like particles which elicit an immune response and/or neutralizing antibody response to both EV-A71 and CVA-16 for the treatment of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease.

The invention relates to methods of treating tumours comprising delivering an oncolytic virus or oncolytic viral RNA via direct injection or systemic administration or intravesicular administration to the tumour or cancer in combination with the co-administration of an immuno-stimulatory agent via the systemic route to a mammal.

Human clinical use of a chimeric poliovirus construct has demonstrated excellent anti-tumor effect. Sequential treatment with the virus construct followed by chemotherapy drugs increases the anti-tumor effect. Tumors of different types are susceptible to the combination treatment, including but not limited to melanoma, glioblastoma, renal cell carcinoma, prostate cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, medulloblastoma, and colorectal cancer.

The present invention relates to a method for treating cancer in a subject in need thereof, comprising administering to said subject a therapeutically effective amount of a Coxsackie B3 group virus or a modified form thereof, wherein the cells of the cancer express a heparan sulfate (HS) receptor on their surface and the virus binds to said HS receptor, enters and accumulates in the cancer cells, whereby at least some cancer cells undergo viral lysis.

The present invention related to an infectious complementary DNA (cDNA) construct characterized in that the cDNA comprises: the cDNA of the CVB3 genomic RNA sequence of a Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3); at least one or more microRNA target sequences (miR-TS), which are complementary to one or more microRNAs having tissue-specific expression pattern, wherein the at least one or more miR-TS are integrated immediately adjacent of the 5UTR and/or the 3UTR of the CVB3 protein coding sequence.

The Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) vaccine including a mutant strain of Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) (SEQ ID NO: 1) has specific double mutations introduced in the Internal Ribosome Entry Segment (IRES) region of the wild type Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) genome in the nucleotide positions 473 (in which uracil is substituted for cytosine) and 475 (in which cytosine is substituted for uracil). The resulting double mutant (SEQ ID NO: 1) demonstrates a significant decrease in its replicative capacity and a drastic decrease in its translation efficiency compared to the wild-type Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) strain.

The instant invention provides materials and methods for producing immunologically active antigens derived from members of the Picornaviridae virus family. The picornavirus antigens of the invention may be in a form for use as a vaccine administered to a subject in a therapeutic treatment or for the prevention of a picornavirus infection. The picornavirus antigens of the invention may be in the form of an immunogenic composition for use in vaccines which are administered for the prevention of an Enterovirus infection. The instant invention further encompasses immunogenic compositions comprising Human enterovirus A, Human enterovirus B, Human enterovirus C, Human enterovirus D antigens and their use in vaccines for the prevention of an Enterovirus infection.