TELOMERASE REVERSE TRANSCRIPTASE FUSION PROTEIN, NUCLEOTIDESENCODING IT, AND USES THEREOF

摘要

Polynucleotides encoding telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) fusion p roteins are provided, the TERT fusion proteins comprising a TERT protein, or functional variant thereof, fused to a substantial portion of the B subunit of heat labile enterotoxin (LTB). TERT variants useful in TERT-LTB fusion p roteins of the invention comprise mutations that function to eliminate telom erase catalytic activity. The polynucleotides of the present invention can e licit an immune response in a mammal, which, in preferred embodiments, is st ronger than the immune response elicited by a wild-type TERT. TERT expressio n is commonly associated with the development of human carcinomas. The prese nt invention provides compositions and methods to elicit or enhance immunity to the protein product expressed by the TERT tumor-associated antigen, wher ein aberrant TERT expression is associated with a carcinoma or its developme nt. This invention specifically provides adenoviral vector and plasmid const ructs carrying polynucleotides encoding TERT fusion proteins and TERT varian ts and discloses their use in vaccines and pharmaceutical compositions for p reventing and treating cancer.