Description

The present invention provides a therapeutic DNA vaccine and vaccine treatment method for chronic hepatitis B. A therapeutic DNA vaccine, HB-100, is capable of inducing T helper type1 (Th1) and cellular immune responses that are known to be required for resolution of chronic hepatitis B. HB-100 comprises 1) an efficient expression vector, 2) Hepatitis B Virus nucleotide sequences encoding most HBV antigens to induce polyclonal, multi-epitope specific T cell immune responses, 3) a genetically engineered cytokine Interleukin-12 to induce strong Th1 and cellular immune responses. The efficacy rate of combination therapy with lamivudine and HB-100 can reach more than 50%, whereas the efficacy of lamivudine alone was previously reported to be less than 20%.

Benefits and Applications

The invention can be used for the therapy of chronic hepatitis B

This invention comprises a specific immunotherapeutic strategy that is aimed to cure chronic hepatitis B patients by induced HBV-specific immune responses

Therefore, this strategy can be applied for the development of "immunotherapeutic vaccines" for other serious diseases like AIDS, chronic hepatitis C, TB, etc.

Intellectual Property Status

Patent pending (US)

Related Publication

Nature Biotechnology 2002, 20, 381-386

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