T cell immunity ameliorates COVID-19 disease severity and provides post-exposure prophylaxis after peptide-vaccination, in Syrian hamsters.

Background: The emergence of novel SARS-CoV-2 variants that resist neutralizing antibodies drew the attention to cellular immunity and calls for the development of alternative vaccination strategies to combat the pandemic. Here, we have assessed the kinetics of T cell responses and protective efficacy against severe COVID-19 in pre- and post-exposure settings, elicited by PolyPEPI-SCoV-2, a peptide based T cell vaccine.

Methods: 75 Syrian hamsters were immunized subcutaneously with PolyPEPI-SCoV-2 on D0 and D14.

Safety and Activity of PolyPEPI1018 Combined with Maintenance Therapy in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: an Open-Label, Multicenter, Phase Ib Study.

Purpose: Although chemotherapy is standard of care for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), immunotherapy has no role in microsatellite stable (MSS) mCRC, a "cold" tumor. PolyPEPI1018 is an off-the-shelf, multi-peptide vaccine derived from 7 tumor-associated antigens (TAA) frequently expressed in mCRC. This study assessed PolyPEPI1018 combined with first-line maintenance therapy in patients with MSS mCRC.

In Silico Model Estimates the Clinical Trial Outcome of Cancer Vaccines.

Over 30 years after the first cancer vaccine clinical trial (CT), scientists still search the missing link between immunogenicity and clinical responses. A predictor able to estimate the outcome of cancer vaccine CTs would greatly benefit vaccine development. Published results of 94 CTs with 64 therapeutic vaccines were collected.

A Peptide Vaccine Candidate Tailored to Individuals' Genetics Mimics the Multi-Targeted T Cell Immunity of COVID-19 Convalescent Subjects.

Long-term immunity to coronaviruses likely stems from T cell activity. We present here a novel approach for the selection of immunoprevalent SARS-CoV-2-derived T cell epitopes using an cohort of HLA-genotyped individuals with different ethnicities. Nine 30-mer peptides derived from the four major structural proteins of SARS-CoV-2 were selected and included in a peptide vaccine candidate to recapitulate the broad virus-specific T cell responses observed in natural infection.

In vivo study of targeted nanomedicine delivery into Langerhans cells by multiphoton laser scanning microscopy.

Epidermal Langerhans cells (LCs) function as professional antigen-presenting cells of the skin. We investigated the LC-targeting properties of a special mannose-moiety-coated pathogen-like synthetic nanomedicine DermaVir (DV), which is capable to express antigens to induce immune responses and kill HIV-infected cells. Our aim was to use multiphoton laser microscopy (MLM) in vivo in order to visualize the uptake of Alexa-labelled DV (AF546-DV) by LCs.