Engineering of a Novel CDN Nanoparticle Platform

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): For many years, the use of protein and peptide antigens to induce specific immune responses has been an area of intense effort with the goal of developing improved vaccines. In principle, this approach is attractive because it has the potential to provide immunological specificity, tighter control of manufacturing processes, and elimination of most of the secondary sources of materials or contaminants associated with the production of the immunogen. However, proteins andpeptides are typically ineffective at stimulating host immune responses when used as soluble antigens. Co-administration with immunostimulatory adjuvant molecules (IAMs) can significantly improve the immune response against protein and peptide antigens, but differences in their physicochemical properties often makes their delivery together to the cells of the immune system inefficient. Since protein and peptide antigens generally require administration with a strong adjuvant to induce potent immune re