Increased Protein Expression Vector for Vaccine Applications

An expression vector with a unique promoter that results in higher level of protein expression than vectors currently in use is available for licensing from the NIH. The elevated levels of expression are achieved through use of a specific promoter, known as CMV/R, in which the Human T-Lymphotrophic Virus (HTLV-1) Long Terminal Repeat (LTR) R-U5 region is substituted for a portion of the intron downstream of the CMV immediate early region 1 enhancer (Barouch et al., 2005). Sequences of 95% or better homology to CMV/R can be used as well. CMV/R vectors are currently being used in a number of clinical trials, including vaccines against West Nile Virus, Ebola virus, and HIV and achieving promising results. The related HIV vaccine technology is available for licensing, as is the Ebola DNA vaccine technology (non-exclusive licensing only). The CMV/R vector can be used for any DNA vaccine or for the production of recombinant proteins in high yields.