Compositions comprising lentiviral vectors expressing IL-12 and methods of use thereof

1. A lentiviral vector particle comprising:

a. an envelope comprising an E2 glycoprotein variant, wherein (i) residue 160 of the E2 glycoprotein variant (corresponding to amino acid 225 of SEQ ID NO: 3) is absent or is an amino acid other than glutamic acid, (ii) at least one of residues 63, 70, 76, 84, 97, 104, 129, 131, 133, 139, 148, 149, 159, 65, 92 128, 137, 157, 170, and 172 of the E2 glycoprotein variant is a non-basic residue, and (iii) the E2 glycoprotein variant is not part of a fusion protein with Sindbis virus E3 glycoprotein; and

b. a lentiviral vector genome comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding IL-12.

2. The lentiviral vector particle of claim 1 wherein the IL-12 is a single chain IL-12 (scIL-12).

3. The lentiviral vector particle of claim 2 wherein the scIL-12 comprises p35-L-p40 or p40-L-p35.

4. The lentiviral vector particle of claim 1 wherein the lentiviral vector genome further comprises a sequence encoding an antigen.

5. The lentiviral vector particle of claim 4 wherein the antigen is a tumor associated antigen, a viral antigen, a bacterial antigen or a fungal antigen.

6. The lentiviral vector particle of claim 5 wherein the tumor associated antigen is selected from the group consisting of prostatic acid phosphatase, prostate specific antigen, NKX3.1, prostate specific membrane antigen, PRAME; BAGE; RAGE, NY-ESO-1, SAGE, HAGE, GAGE, Plu-1, HASH-1, HasH-2, Cripto, Criptin, MART-1/Melan-A, gp100, gp75, mda-7, tyrosinase, tyrosinase-related protein, p53, Ras, c-Myc, A-Raf, B-Raf, and C-Raf, MAGE-A1, MAGE-A2, MAGE-A3, MAGE-A4, MAGE-A6, MAGE-A10, MAGE-A12, MART-1, BAGE, DAM-6, -10, GAGE-1, GAGE-2, GAGE-8, GAGE-3, GAGE-4, GAGE-5, GAGE-6, GAGE-7B, NA88-A, MART-1, MC1R, Gp100, PSM, TRP-1, TRP-2, ART-4, CAMEL, CEA, Cyp-B, hTERT, hTRT, iCE, MUC1, MUC2, PRAME, P15, RU1, RU2, SART-1, SART-3, Wilms' tumor antigen (WT1), AFP, β-catenin/m, Caspase-8/m, CEA, CDK-4/m, ELF2M, GnT-V, G250, HSP70-2M, HST-2, KIAA0205, MUM-1, MUM-2, MUM-3, Myosin/m, SART-2, TRP-2/INT2, 707-AP, Annexin II, CDC27/m, TPI/mbcr-abl, BCR-ABL, interferon regulatory factor 4 (IRF4), ETV6/AML, LDLR/FUT, Pml/RAR, Tumor-associated calcium signal transducer 1 (TACSTD1) TACSTD2, Epidermal Growth Factor receptor (EGFR and EGFRvIII), platelet derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR), vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR), integrin-linked kinase (ILK), STAT3, STAT5, STAT6, HIF-1, HIF-2, Nuclear Factor-Kappa B (NF-κB), Notch1-4, c-Met, mammalian targets of rapamycin (mTOR), WNT, PMSA, PR-3, MDM2, Mesothelin, renal cell carcinoma—5T4, SM22-alpha, carbonic anhydrases I (CAI) and IX (CAIX) (also known as G250), STEAD, TEL/AML1, GD2, proteinase3, hTERT, sarcoma translocation breakpoints, EphA2, ML-IAP, EpCAM, ERG (TMPRSS2 ETS fusion gene), NA17, PAX3, ALK, androgen receptor, cyclin B1, polysialic acid, MYCN, RhoC, GD3, fucosyl GM1, mesothelian, PSCA, sLe, PLAC1, GM3, BORIS, Tn, GLoboH, NY-BR-1, RGs5, SART3, STn, PAX5, OY-TES1, sperm protein 17, LCK, HMWMAA, AKAP-4, SSX2, XAGE 1, B7H3, legumain, TIE2, Page4, MAD-CT-1, FAP, MAD-CT-2, and fos related antigen 1.

7. A composition comprising the lentiviral vector particle according to claim 1 and a second lentiviral vector particle encoding a tumor antigen.

8. A therapeutic or prophylactic vaccine comprising the lentiviral vector particles of claim 4 and a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient.

9. The lentiviral vector particle of claim 1 , wherein the E2 glycoprotein variant comprises amino acids 66 to 488 of SEQ ID NO: 3.

10. A lentiviral vector particle comprising:

a. an envelope comprising an E2 glycoprotein variant having amino acids 66 to 488 of SEQ ID NO: 3, wherein (i) residue 160 of the E2 glycoprotein variant (corresponding to amino acid 225 of SEQ ID NO: 3) is absent or is an amino acid other than glutamic acid, (ii) residue 70 of the E2 glycoprotein variant is a non-basic residue, and (iii) the E2 glycoprotein variant is not part of a fusion protein with Sindbis virus E3 glycoprotein; and

b. a lentiviral vector genome comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding IL-12, wherein the IL-12 is a single chain IL-12 (scIL-12) comprising p35-L-p40 or p40-L-p35.

11. The lentiviral vector particle of claim 1 , wherein residue 70 of the E2 glycoprotein variant is a non-basic residue.