City of Hope

Heidi Contreras

Don Jeffrey Diamond

Felix Wussow

A vaccine composition comprising an immunologically effective amount of recombinant modified vaccinia Ankara (rMVA) virus comprising IE1, IE2 and pp65 or antigenic fragments thereof, which is genetically stable after at least 10 passages. A method of improving the stability of such rMVA upon passage by including one or more of the modifications: (1) inserting one or more nucleic acid sequences encoding the CMV antigens or antigenic fragments thereof into one or more insertion sites including but not limited to 044L/045L, IGR3, G1L/18R, and Del3 but not including Del2; (2) codon optimizing the nucleic acid sequences encoding the CMV antigens by removing consecutive cytosines or guanines; and (3) introducing one or more mutations in the amino acid sequences of the CMV antigens.

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Pasadena, CA, United States of America

Heidi Contreras