Predictive assay for immune response

A method for selecting one or more vaccine compositions from among a group consisting of two or more vaccine compositions for assessment in an animal or in a human, said vaccine compositions each comprising one or more antigens or one or more nucleic acid molecules encoding one or more antigens, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) contacting antigen presenting cells in culture with a vaccine composition selected from among said group of vaccine compositions, thereby, if one or more of the antigens or nucleic acid molecules are taken up and processed by the antigen presenting cells, producing one or more processed antigens;
• (b) contacting the antigen presenting cells with T cells under conditions sufficient for the T cells to respond to one or more of the processed antigens;
• (c) determining whether the T cells respond to one or more of the processed antigens;
• whereby if the T cells respond to one or more of the processed antigens, then the vaccine composition stimulates a T cell response;
• (d) repeating steps (a), (b) and (c) with each additional vaccine composition in the group, thereby determining whether each vaccine composition stimulates a T cell response;
• and, if one or more of the vaccine compositions stimulates a T cell response
• (e) selecting at least one vaccine composition which stimulates a T cell response for assessment in one or more animals or human subjects.

A method for selecting one or more vaccine compositions from among a group consisting of two or more vaccine compositions for in vivo assessment in one or more animals or human subjects, said vaccine compositions each comprising one or more antigens or one or more nucleic acid molecules encoding one or more antigens, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) contacting antigen presenting cells in culture with a vaccine composition selected from among said group of vaccine compositions, thereby, if one or more of the antigens or nucleic acid molecules are taken up and processed by the antigen presenting cells, producing one or more processed antigens;
• (b) contacting the antigen presenting cells with T cells under conditions sufficient to produce a T cell response to one or more of the processed antigens, thereby producing a vaccine composition-stimulated T cell response;
• (c) measuring the vaccine composition-stimulated T cell response;
• (d) repeating steps (a), (b) and (c) with each of the remaining vaccine compositions in the group, thereby identifying the vaccine composition or compositions which stimulate the greatest T cell response;
• (e) selecting the vaccine composition or compositions which stimulate the greatest T cell response for in vivo assessment in one or more animals or human subjects.

A method for assessing the ability of a vaccine composition comprising one or more antigens or one or more nucleic acid molecules encoding one or more antigens to stimulate a human T cell response, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) contacting human antigen presenting cells in culture with the vaccine composition, thereby, if one or more of the antigens or nucleic acid molecules can be taken up and processed by the antigen presenting cells, producing one or more processed antigens;
• (b) contacting the antigen presenting cells with human T cells under conditions sufficient to produce a T cell response to one or more of the processed antigens, thereby producing a T cell response;
• (c) measuring the T cell response;
• and if the T cell response is greater than a pre-selected value,
• (d) assessing the ability of the vaccine composition to stimulate a protective T cell response in one or more animals or human subjects.