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No vaccine candidates against Ebola virus (EBOV) or Marburg virus (MARV) are nearing licensure and the need to develop a safe and efficacious vaccine against filoviruses continues. Whereas several preclinical vaccine candidates against EBOV or MARV exist, their further development is a major challenge based on safety concerns, pre-existing vector immunity, and issues such as manufacturing, dosage, and marketability. The inventors have developed a new platform based on live or chemically inactivated (killed) rabies virus (RABV) virions containing EBOV glycoprotein (GP) in their envelope.

Early work by Hammond at al. showed gamma globulin to be effective for the prevention of poliomyelitis. Therefore, passive immunotherapy could be another way to treat chronic excretors. Even though prior attempts to use intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and breast milk were unsuccessful, there is reason to think that higher doses of antipoliovirus antibodies could result in complete clearance of poliovirus from chronically infected individuals.

TBEV causes serious illnesses from meningitis to meningo-encephalitis, totaling 3,000 cases of hospitalization in Europe and between 5,000-10,000 cases in Russia reported every year. The Far Eastern hemorrhagic TBEV strains are associated with a mortality rate (between 1-2%), higher than other strains isolated in the Siberia or Western Europe. There is a high proportion (up to 46%) of TBEV patients with temporary or permanent neurological sequelae.

The effort targeting the mosquito borne neglected tropical disease lymphatic filariasis for elimination through mass drug administration by 2020 will require accurate, cost effective methods for detecting early infections. The World Health Organization-recommended immunochromatographic test detects adult Wuchereria bancrofti (Wb) antigen in blood, but shows variable efficacy due to the complex life cycle of the parasites and cross reactivity with other organisms. This variability may hinder effective lymphatic filariasis elimination efforts.

Species of Bacillus, such as Bacillus anthracis, Bacillus cereus, and Bacillus subtilis, are attractive microorganisms for recombinant protein production in view of their fast growth rate, high yield, and ability to secrete produced products directly into the medium. Bacillus anthracis is also attractive in view of its ability to produce anthrax toxin and ability to fold proteins correctly. This application claims a B. anthracis strain in which more than one secreted protease is inactivated by genetic modification.

The uses for human anti-HIV monoclonal antibody 10E8 and its variants include passive immunization, therapeutic vaccination, and the development of vaccine immunogens. 10E8 is one of the most potent HIV-neutralizing antibodies isolated and it neutralizes up to 98% of diverse HIV-1 strains. 10E8 is specific to the membrane-proximal external region (MPER) of the HIV envelope protein gp41 and 10E8 is orthogonal to other anti-HIV antibodies. In combination with other antibodies 10E8 may provide an antibody response that neutralizes nearly all strains of HIV-1.

Salen-manganese compounds are synthetic, stable, low toxicity, low cost agents that may provide protection from immune reaction-related oxidative cell damage associated with many illnesses. In particular, oxidative cell damage has been associated with many viral infections including influenza. This invention demonstrates that treating mice with salen-manganese compounds, after lethal pandemic influenza virus infection, significantly enhances survival. Salen-manganese treatment also reduces lung pathology and also improved cellular recovery and repair.

NIH inventors at the Vaccine Research Center have developed a novel influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA)-ferritin nanoparticle influenza vaccine that is easily manufactured, potent, and elicits broadly neutralizing influenza antibodies against multiple strains of influenza. This novel influenza nanoparticle vaccine elicited two types of broadly neutralizing, cross-protective antibodies, one directed to the highly conserved HA stem and a second proximal to the conserved receptor binding site (RBS) of the viral HA, providing a new platform for universal and seasonal influenza.

The transfusion of regulatory T cells (Tregs) has been used in the clinic to successfully prevent graft vs. host disease and is currently being evaluated in the treatment of other autoimmune diseases, such as organ graft rejection, type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis. Prior to transfusion, adoptive regulatory T cell transfer requires the expansion of regulatory T cells in culture; this results in a mixed population of regulatory T cells that limits the effectiveness of the transferred cells.

There are two related technologies, the first being small molecule inhibitors of the malarial plasmodial surface anion channel (PSAC) and the second being the PSAC protein itself as a vaccine candidate. The PSAC protein is produced by the malaria parasite within host erythrocytes and is crucial for mediating nutrient uptake. In vitro data show that the PSAC inhibitors are able to inhibit growth of malaria parasites, have high specificity, and low toxicity.