Table of Contents

Anna Sacher, PhD Student

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Introduction

The aim of this project is to re-direct AAV particles to immune cells and organs to generate a optimized vaccine vector for immunization with HPV16 L1.

Adeno-associated viruses have a small, non-eveloped capsid. They can be used to encapsidate heterologous DNA which can be subsequently delivered to various cell types in vitro and in vivo. The fact that they can resist extreme temperature and pH-conditions makes them interesting as vaccine vectors as one of the major problems is keeping a cold chain during transportation.

AAV Display Peptide Libraries

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The aim of this work is to optimize the AAV capsid for vaccination purposes. The strategy is to screen randomized peptide display libraries for capsids which can specifically target immune cells and raise the immune response if used as vaccine vectors

AAV Screening Strategies

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After preparation of the randomized peptide display library, screenings are carried out in three different ways: (i) in-vivo screenings from immune organs after application of the library to obtain capsids which can specifically target these organs. (ii) In-vitro screenings which include dendritic cells. Another way is (iii) screening using the immobilized receptor-DC-SIGN which plays a major role in antigen presentation of dendritic cells what makes it an interesting target for a vaccine vector.