Artificial Flavivirus Antigen Design for Broad, Stable Immunity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current vaccines for yellow fever and dengue viruses face challenges such as safety concerns, limited effectiveness against multiple serotypes, and the need for cold storage, making them unsuitable for certain populations and difficult to produce rapidly and scale up.
Innovation Solution
Development of artificial nucleic acids and polypeptides designed to elicit a durable immune response against flaviviruses, including yellow fever and dengue, with compositions suitable for pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis, rapid production, and stability without cold chain requirements, while avoiding antibody-dependent enhancement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional yellow fever and dengue vaccines are used, then immune protection is provided, but safety concerns arise and cold storage is required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential immunogenic components (antigenic determinants) from the whole virus, creating recombinant viral proteins that retain protective immunity without the harmful components of live or inactivated whole-virus vaccines. This extraction approach eliminates safety concerns while preserving immunogenicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates artificial nucleic acid copies of viral genome sequences that encode specific viral proteins. These synthetic copies replicate the immunogenic properties of natural viruses without requiring handling of actual pathogenic materials, thereby improving safety while maintaining protective immunity.
2Reliability
If conventional vaccines are used, then immune response is induced, but cold storage is required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes the inherent thermal stability of nucleic acids and recombinant proteins, changing the physical-chemical parameters of the vaccine composition to eliminate cold chain requirements. The artificial nucleic acid and expressed proteins maintain structural integrity and immunogenicity at ambient temperatures, unlike conventional vaccine formulations.
3Quantity of substance
If existing vaccine production methods are used, then vaccine supply is provided, but rapid production and scaling are difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs host cells (bacterial, insect, or mammalian) that automatically perform the complex processes of nucleic acid transcription, translation, and protein folding when provided with the artificial nucleic acid. This self-service approach by biological systems enables rapid scaling without complex manual intervention in protein synthesis and purification.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent designs a universal platform using artificial nucleic acid that can be expressed in multiple host systems (bacteria, insects, mammals), allowing flexible selection of production systems based on scale and resource availability. This multi-functionality enables rapid scaling from small-scale research to large-scale manufacturing.
4Reliability
If conventional vaccines are used, then protection against specific serotypes is provided, but effectiveness against multiple serotypes is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple antigenic determinants from different dengue serotypes into single recombinant viral proteins or fusion proteins. By combining conserved epitopes from DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, and DENV-4 in one immunogenic composition, the vaccine provides broad cross-serotype protection while maintaining high immunogenicity through the viral protein context.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention is directed to an artificial nucleic acid and to a polypeptide suitable for use in the treatment or prophylaxis of an infection with a flavivirus, in particular an infection with yellow fever virus or with dengue virus, or of a disorder related to such an infection. The present invention is also directed to a composition, preferably an immunogenic composition, comprising the artificial nucleic acid or the inventive polypeptide. In particular, the present invention concerns an immunogenic composition against a flavivirus, such as yellow fever virus or dengue virus. Further, the invention concerns a kit, particularly a kit of parts, comprising the artificial nucleic acid, polypeptide or (immunogenic) composition. The invention is further directed to a method of treating or preventing a disorder or a disease, first and second medical uses of the artificial nucleic acid, polypeptide, composition, in particular the first and second medical uses of the immunogenic composition according to the invention.