Immunization of infants
AssigneeThe Mount Sinai Medical Center of the City of New York
InventorsAdrian Bot, Constantin Bona
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention relates to methods and compositions which may be used to immunize infant mammals against a target antigen, wherein an immunogeniclly effective amount of a nuclic acid encoding a relevant epitope of a desired target antigen is administered to the infant. It is based, at least in part, on the discovery that such genetic immunization of infant mammals could give rise to effective cellular and humoral immune responses against target antigens.
Claims19
A method for immunizing an infant mammal against a target viral antigen, comprising inoculating the mammal, while an infant, with an effective amount of a naked recombinant nucleic acid molecule encoding a peptide comprising one or more relevant epitopes of the target viral antigen in a pharmaceutical carrier, such that a therapeutically effective amount of the relevant peptide is expressed in the infant mammal, wherein said infant is immunized.
A method for immunizing an infant mammal against a target viral antigen, comprising injection into the mammal of an effective amount of a naked nucleic acid molecule encoding a viral peptide comprising the target antigen comprising one or more relevant viral epitopes in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, such that a therapeutically effective amount of the relevant peptide is expressed in the infant mammal, wherein said infant is immunized.
A method for immunizing an infant mammal against a target viral antigen, comprising inoculating the mammal with a therapeutically effective amount of a naked recombinant nucleic acid molecule encoding a peptide comprising one or more relevant viral epitopes of the target viral antigen in a pharmaceutical acceptable carrier, wherein;
- (i) the therapeutical effective amount of nucleic acid is introduced by a plurality of inoculations all administered while the animal is an infant;
- and (ii) immunization results in significant resistance to a disease associated with a pathogen that expresses the target antigen.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.