Washington University

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Michael Miley

Daved Henry Fremont

Aravinda Desilva

Ted H Hansen

Steven Truscott

Janet Connolly

Lonnie Lybarger

Stefan Metz

Vesselin Mitaksov

The present invention provides compositions directed to recombinant flavivirus E glycoprotein ectodomain dimers for use in diagnostic and immunotherapeutic methods.

Methods and compositions for dengue virus vaccines and diagnostics

A disulfide trap, comprising an antigen peptide covalently attached to an MHC class I heavy chain molecule by a disulfide bond extending between two cysteines, is disclosed. In some configurations, a disulfide trap, such as a disulfide trap single chain trimer (dtSCT), can comprise a single contiguous polypeptide chain. Upon synthesis in a cell, a disulfide trap oxidizes properly in the ER, and can be recognized by T cells. In some configurations, a peptide moiety of a disulfide trap is not displaced by high-affinity competitor peptides, even if the peptide binds the heavy chain relatively weakly. In various configurations, a disulfide trap can be used for vaccination, to elicit CD8 T cells, and in multivalent MHC/peptide reagents for the enumeration and tracking of T cells. Also disclosed are nucleic acids comprising a sequence encoding a disulfide trap. Such nucleic acids, which can be DNA vectors, can be used as vaccines.

Disulfide trap MHC class I molecules and uses therefor

Growing community of inventors

Cary, NC, United States of America

Michael Miley