T20 constructs for anti-HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) therapy and/or vaccines

摘要

The present invention concerns methods and compositions for treatment of HIV infection using a T20 expression vector, such as that shown in SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:3. The T20 expression vector may be used in a variety of therapeutic applications, such as ex vivo transfection of dendritic cells to induce a host immune response to HIV, localized transfection in vivo in a gene therapy approach to provide longer term delivery of T20, or in vitro production of T20 peptide. The T20 may be secreted into the circulation to act as a fusion inhibitor of HIV infection, or may induce an endogenous immune response to HIV or HIV-infected cells. Alternatively, a DDD peptide may be incorporated in a fusion protein comprising T20 or another antigenic protein or peptide to enhance the immune response to the protein or peptide.