LI-KEY ENHANCED VACCINE POTENCY

摘要

Disclosed is a method for increasing vaccine potency whereby a subject's immune system is first primed with an Ii-Key hybrid peptide construct before the subject subsequently receives a vaccine for a pathogen of interest. The vaccine may be comprised of a protein or portion thereof that is encoded by the genome of the pathogen. The vaccine may also be a DNA vaccine comprised of DNA encoding a protein of the pathogen. The Ii-Key hybrid peptide construct includes the LRMK residues of Ii-Key protein and an MHC Class II epitope of the protein or portion thereof which is used in the vaccine. The Ii-Key construct may be administered in the form of a nucleic acid construct encoding the Ii-Key hybrid peptide. Priming with Ii-Key peptides enhances the immunogenicity of rHA protein and HA and HIV DNA vaccines. Methods are described relating to the use of Ii-Key hybrid constructs in vaccine protocols wherein the pathogen is HIV or Influenza A, including H5N1. Methods and compositions are described wherein the MHC Class II epitope of the Ii-Key hybrid is hemagglutinin encoded by Influenza A or the Gag protein encoded by HIV.