USE OF BIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE HIV-1 TAT, FRAGMENTS OR DERIVATIVES THEREOF, TO TARGET AND/OR TO ACTIVATE ANTIGEN-PRESENTING CELLS, AND/OR TO DELIVER CARGO MOLECULES FOR PREVENTIVE OR THERAPEUTIC VACCINATION AND/OR TO TREAT OTHER DISEASES

摘要

The present invention concerns a method for prophylactic and/or therapeutic vaccination and/or treatment and/or diagnosis of HIV/AIDS, other infectious diseases, inflammatory and angiogenic diseases and tumours which utilizes a biologically active HIV-1 Tat protein, fragments or derivates thereof, as a module with one or more of the following features: antigen, adjuvant and targeting-delivery system to specific antigen-presenting cells including dendritic cells, endothelial cells and macrophages. In particular, it is claimed that Tat can be used only in its biologically active form as an antigen, alone or combined with one or more other antigens, to prime or to boost protective immune responses against itself as well as other antigens and/or to deliver these antigen(s) as well as active compounds to dendritic cells, endothelial cells and macrophages, due to its capability of targeting these APC and of activating their maturation and functions and of increasing Th-1 type immune responses as an adjuvant. Therefore, due to these characteristics and to the distribution of these cells in the body (during physiological and pathological disorders), biologically active Tat, fragments or derivates thereof containing the RGD region, can be used for preventive, therapeutic and/or diagnostic purposes for HIV/AIDS, other infectious diseases, inflammatory and angiogenic diseases and tumors.