| WARF: P09087US02 |  |
| HIV Vaccine Induces Broad Immunogenic Response, Reduces Viral Load |
| INVENTORS | • | David Watkins, Nancy Wilson Schlei |
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) is seeking commercial partners interested in developing a vaccine composition capable of inducing a protective or therapeutic immune response against HIV.
OVERVIEW
More than 33 million people worldwide currently are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS. Despite more than 20 years of intense research, a broadly effective vaccine against AIDS has not yet been developed.A major obstacle to the development of a vaccine is the variability of HIV. Current vaccine strategies use DNA or recombinant viral vectors to induce immune responses to whole HIV genes or large gene fragments. However, vaccine immunogens based on single strains of HIV are ineffective against the enormous sequence diversity of this virus.
A major weakness of these immunogens is that the response they induce often is focused on a few “immunodominant” epitopes in large viral antigens and can interfere with the development of a broader, more protective immune response to multiple viral epitopes, including subdominant epitopes. Immune responses focused on a single immunodominant epitope can be overcome easily when the sequence of the infecting virus differs from the vaccine in that single epitope. By recognizing multiple viral epitopes, a broadly specific vaccine-induced immune response may be better able to cope with the sequence diversity of HIV.
THE INVENTION
UW-Madison researchers have developed a vaccine composition that can be used to induce a broad cytotoxic lymphocyte response against HIV. The composition may induce a protective immune response against HIV infection or a therapeutic response that results in a reduction in viral load or an increase in CD4+ T-cell count.The vaccine composition includes a mixture of DNA polynucleotides designed to elicit a broad cellular immune response early in infection and to overcome the suppression of subdominant epitopes by dominant epitopes. Each polynucleotide encodes full-length or a fragment of an HIV polypeptide such as Gag, Pol, Rev, Tat, Nef, Vif, Vpx or Vpr. They may be packaged in one or more viral or bacterial vectors.
APPLICATIONS
- Prevention or treatment of HIV infection
- Prevention of AIDS
KEY BENEFITS
- Designed to elicit a broad cellular immune response early in infection
- Capable of reducing viral load during acute and chronic infection
- Reducing peak viral load could diminish acute pathogenesis, reduce the generation of genetic diversity of the virus and decrease the chance of secondary transmission during acute infection
- Broadly specific vaccine-induced immune response can cope more effectively with HIV sequence diversity than narrowly focused immune responses induced by current vaccine modalities.
- Can be administered in combination with other therapeutic agents
STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT
In a trial of 16 macaques (eight vaccinees and eight controls), the vaccine composition induced a broad cellular immune response that effectively controlled replication of HIV following a challenge regimen designed to mimic typical human exposure. At 16 weeks post-infection, vaccinated animals had a mean viral load of 7.9 vRNA copy Eq/ml, while control animals had a mean viral load of 32,000 vRNA copy Eq/ml (P<0.0033). Additionally, more than half of the vaccinated animals had peak viral loads less than 80,000 vRNA copy Eq/ml.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
For More Information About the Inventors
Related Technologies
Intellectual Property Status
Patent applied for.
Tech Fields
Pharmaceuticals & Vitamin D - Vaccines
Pharmaceuticals & Vitamin D - Antivirals
CONTACT INFORMATION
For current licensing status, please contact our team at
licensing@warf.org
or phone 608.262.4924. (Clicking this link will open a contact form in a popup window. If you have problems viewing the form, try disabling your popup blocker software.)
WARF: A Leader in Technology Transfer Since 1925
Since its founding as the patenting and licensing arm of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, WARF has been working with business and industry to transform university research into products that benefit society. WARF intellectual property managers and licensing staff members are leaders in the field of university-based technology transfer. They are familiar with the intricacies of patenting, have worked with researchers in relevant disciplines, understand industries and markets, and have negotiated innovative licensing strategies to meet the individual needs of business clients.
The University of Wisconsin and WARF -
A Single Location to Accelerate Translational Development of New Drugs
The UW-Madison has the integrative capabilities to complete many key components of the drug development cycle, from discovery through clinical trials. As one of the top research universities in the world, and one of the two best-funded universities in the country, UW-Madison offers state-of-the-art facilities unmatched by most public universities.
These include the Small Molecule Screening Facility at the UW Comprehensive Cancer Center; the Zeeh Pharmaceutical Experiment Station, which provides consulting and laboratory services for developing formulations and studying solubility, stability and more; the Waisman Clinical Biomanufacturing Facility; the Wisconsin Institute for Medical Research, which provides UW-Madison with a complete translational research facility; and soon, the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, made up of innovative private and public interdisciplinary biomedical research institutes. The highly qualified experts at these facilities are ready to work with you to create a library of candidates for drug development.
Since its founding as the patenting and licensing arm of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, WARF has been working with business and industry to transform university research into products that benefit society. WARF intellectual property managers and licensing staff members are leaders in the field of university-based technology transfer. They are familiar with the intricacies of patenting, have worked with researchers in relevant disciplines, understand industries and markets, and have negotiated innovative licensing strategies to meet the individual needs of business clients.
The University of Wisconsin and WARF -
A Single Location to Accelerate Translational Development of New Drugs
The UW-Madison has the integrative capabilities to complete many key components of the drug development cycle, from discovery through clinical trials. As one of the top research universities in the world, and one of the two best-funded universities in the country, UW-Madison offers state-of-the-art facilities unmatched by most public universities.
These include the Small Molecule Screening Facility at the UW Comprehensive Cancer Center; the Zeeh Pharmaceutical Experiment Station, which provides consulting and laboratory services for developing formulations and studying solubility, stability and more; the Waisman Clinical Biomanufacturing Facility; the Wisconsin Institute for Medical Research, which provides UW-Madison with a complete translational research facility; and soon, the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, made up of innovative private and public interdisciplinary biomedical research institutes. The highly qualified experts at these facilities are ready to work with you to create a library of candidates for drug development.
