New polypeptide based on human immune deficiency virus gp41, useful in preventative or therapeutic vaccine, induces neutralizing antibodies against primary isolates

摘要

Polypeptides (I) containing fragments of the HIV gp41 protein and able to adopt a alpha -helical conformation are new. Polypeptides of formula (I) containing fragments of the HIV gp41 protein and able to adopt a alpha -helical conformation are new, where (N-S1)n-C-(S2-N)m (I) N = amino acids (aa) 30-77 of gp41; C = aa 117-154 of gp41; S1 and S2 = aa sequence such that (I) adopts an alpha -helical conformation, or may be absent; n and m = 0-1, but not both 0 The alpha -helical conformation is determined by the program SOPMA using the parameters: number of conformational states = 4; limit of similarity = 8 and width of window = 70. Independent claims are also included for the following: (1) Conjugate (II) of (I) with a carrier protein or peptide; (2) DNA sequence (III) that encodes (I) or (II); (3) Vector that contains (III); (4) Host cell containing the vector of (3); and (5) Preparation of polypeptides by expression from cells of (4).