APC Biotech: Vaccines

The SpeedVaccs Advantage

SpeedVaccs is a rapid, scaleable, cost-effective technology for generating recombinant subunit vaccines in bacteria. The Speedvaccs technology utilizes a small, stable protein scaffold for the co-display of multiple antigens, for example, B and T cell peptide antigens to maximize the immune response. The first peptide antigen is cloned into an internal site that constrains the peptide at both ends as an extension of a loop in the scaffold. As a result, the antigen is conformationally constrained, which is important in eliciting a robust immune response. The second antigen is displayed as a linear C-terminal extension of the scaffold.

B and T cell antigens from the same pathogen may be incorporated into the same scaffold to generate a stable fusion protein vaccine. The scaffold is derived from ubiquitin which plays a role in the processing of antigens, particularly peptide antigens, to generate B and T cell responses. SpeedVaccs vaccines, therefore, have several advantages, including:

Rapid preparation of milligram quantities of test vaccine (4-6 weeks from sequence to purified protein)
Stabilization of antigenic peptides against degradation in vivo for more effective presentation and in vitro for better storage, transport, distribution, and shelf-life
Proteasome targeted for more efficient antigen processing
Process is scaleable and cost-effective

SpeedVaccs has shown great promise in animal studies. APC Biotechnology Services is currently developing vaccines for several indications. The technology is also available for contract vaccine synthesis and licensing.