Co-Expressed Antigen Constructs for Single-Vector B- and T-Cell Activation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current vaccines and cancer treatments lack the ability to efficiently stimulate both B-cell and T-cell responses, leading to suboptimal immune responses against pathogens and cancer cells, and existing cancer therapies have significant side effects.
Innovation Solution
A vector is developed that co-expresses a first polypeptide targeting antigen-presenting cells with a multimerization unit and an antigenic unit, along with one or more immunostimulatory compounds, enhancing the immune response by allowing separate expression of these components from a single vector.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional vaccines introduce specific antigens or live attenuated agents, then immune response is stimulated, but the response lacks coordinated B-cell and T-cell activation and requires multiple separate administrations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functional elements (antigenic unit, targeting unit, and immunostimulatory compound) into a single vector construct that co-expresses all components. This merging eliminates the need for separate vector administrations and ensures coordinated expression of all necessary immune stimulation elements from a single administration, directly resolving the contradiction between reliable immune response coordination and the complexity of multiple administrations
Solution Approach 2:
The single vector construct performs multiple functions simultaneously: it expresses the antigenic unit for B-cell stimulation, the targeting unit for delivering immunostimulatory compounds to antigen-presenting cells, and the immunostimulatory compound itself for T-cell activation. This multi-functionality in a single vector resolves the contradiction by eliminating the need for multiple specialized vectors while maintaining comprehensive immune response coordination
2Reliability
If co-expression of immunostimulatory compounds is achieved from a single vector, then immune response enhancement is improved, but vector design complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The vector is segmented into distinct functional modules: a first nucleic acid sequence encoding the polypeptide with targeting and multimerization units, and a second nucleic acid sequence encoding the immunostimulatory compound. Each module can be independently designed and optimized, then combined in the final vector. This segmentation reduces the design complexity by breaking down the complex co-expression system into manageable, independent components while maintaining the ability to enhance immune response through coordinated expression
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to vectors, such as DNA plasmids, comprising multiple nucleic acid sequences engineered to be co-expressed as separate molecules. Such separate molecules include a first polypeptide, wherein the first polypeptide comprises a targeting unit that targets antigen-presenting cells, a multimerization unit, such as dimerization unit, and an antigenic unit comprising one or more antigens or parts thereof, and one or more immunostimulatory compounds.