Aventis Pasteur S.a.

Pasteur Merieux Serums Et Vaccins

Bernard Meignier

Michel Chevalier

Suryaprakash Sambhara

Catherine Moste

Catherine Moste-Deshairs

The invention relates to a method for enhancing the specific immune response against an immunogenic compound which comprises administering the immunogenic compound together with a poxvirus recombinant and a vaccinal antigen, which is not a poxvirus. The immunological material may be any biological material useful as a vaccine e.g., a polypeptide characteristic of a pathogenic microorganism or associated with a tumoral disorder, a DNA plasmid encoding a peptide or a polypeptide characteristic of a pathogenic microorganism or a tumor-associated antigen, or an hapten coupled to a carrier molecule. The poxvirus may be a live, attenuated or inactivated virus or a recombinant virus. Recombinant virus may encode a heterologous polypeptide such as chemokines, cytokines or co-immunostimulatory molecules or an homologous polypeptide, which is immunologically cross reactive with the immunogenic polypeptide or peptide.

Use of poxviruses as enhancer of specific immunity

The use, when preparing a vaccine composition containing a standard influenza virus vaccine, of an additive which consists of a core or core fraction of at least one influenza virus, especially a fraction containing protein M; and a vaccine composition thereby obtained. The use of said additive improves the vaccine's effectiveness.

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Thurins, France

Bernard Meignier