Immunogenic compositions, antigen screening methods, and methods of generating immune responses

Abstract

An immunogenic composition is provided herein. The immunogenic compositions are used to identify and select immunogenic antigens that elicit immune responses in a subject and may be subsequently used in multi-antigen vaccine compositions against one or more diseases or conditions. According to some embodiments, the immunogenic composition may include a plurality of nucleic acid fragments or minigenes derived from a nucleic acid library, wherein each nucleic acid fragment encodes a different antigen or functional portion thereof, and wherein the different antigens or functional portions thereof are associated with one or more disease or condition. The immunogenic composition may also include a delivery medium loaded with the plurality of nucleic acid fragments and in some embodiments, the delivery medium is loaded with nucleic acid fragments in such a way that individual antigen presenting cells receive only a subset of the nucleic acids within a vaccine in order to minimize antigenic competition.