Attenuated flaviviruses
AssigneeCodagenix Inc.
InventorsJohn Robert Coleman, Steffen Mueller, Ying Wang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides for modified Flavivirus such as a modified Zika virus. The modification according to various aspects of the invention results in reduced viral proteins compared to a parent virus, wherein the reduction in expression is the result of recoding one or more regions of the virus. For example, the prM, or envelope (E) region, or the nonstructural protein 3 (NS3) region or both the E and NS3 regions can be recoded. In various embodiments one or more regions are recoded by reducing the codon pair bias or codon usage bias of the protein-encoding sequence. These modified Flavivirus are used as vaccine compositions to provide a protective immune response.
Claims12
A modified Zika virus in which expression of viral proteins is reduced compared to a parent virus, wherein the reduction in expression is the result of recoding at least the envelope (E) region,
- wherein recoding at least the envelope (E) region comprises reducing the codon pair bias;
- wherein less than the entire of the E region is deoptimized,
- wherein the modified virus has a safety factor of at least 102, wherein the safety factor is defined by the ratio of LD50/PD50, wherein the envelope (E) region is encoded by a nucleic acid having SEQ ID NO:8 or SEQ ID NO:9.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.