Loading patent…
OwnerManuel Engelhorn, Alan N. Houghton +1inventors
InventorsManuel Engelhorn, Alan N. Houghton, Jose Alejandro Guevara
Estimating the term…
Therapeutic libraries of minigenes encoding at least one characteristic epitope of a target antigen and degenerate variants of major histocompatability class I restricted epitopes are prepared by constructing a population of minigenes of comparable structure (that is having parallel components at each location in the minigene), each species in the population encoding at least one characteristic epitope of the target antigen and one of a plurality a degenerate variants of an MHC Class I-restricted epitope; screening the population of minigenes in an in vitro or in vivo system to confirm the induction of immunological response against the target antigen; and optionally repeating a screening step on one or more subpopulations of the minigenes to select for immunologically-effective subpopulations, which may comprise as few as a single species of the minigene construct.
A method for preparing a therapeutic library of minigenes encoding at least one characteristic epitope of a target antigen and degenerate variants of major histocompatability class I restricted epitopes comprising the steps of:
A minigene library comprising in a mixture a plurality of species of minigenes of comparable structure, each species of minigene encoding a characteristic epitope of a selected target antigen and an MHC-Class I restricted epitope, wherein the plurality of species taken together encode a plurality of degenerate MHC-Class I restricted epitopes, wherein the minigene library is effective to induce an immune response to the selected target antigen when administered to a subject in which it is expressed.
A method of inducing an immune response in an individual suffering from a health condition characterized by the presence of a target antigen, comprising the step of administering to the individual a minigene library comprising in a mixture a plurality of species of minigenes of comparable structure, each species of minigene encoding a characteristic epitope of the target antigen and an MHC-Class I restricted epitope, wherein the plurality of species taken together encode a plurality of degenerate MHC-Class I restricted epitopes, in an amount effective to induce an immune response to the target antigen when administered to a subject and expressed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.