[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 216 (Friday, November 7, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Page 63114]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-28057]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Government-Owned Inventions; Availability for Licensing

AGENCY: National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, DHHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The invention listed below is owned by an agency of the U.S. 
Government and is available for licensing in the U.S. in accordance 
with 35 U.S.C. 207 to achieve expeditious commercialization of results 
of federally-funded research and development. Foreign patent 
applications are filed on selected inventions to extend market coverage 
for companies and may also be available for licensing.

ADDRESSES: Licensing information and copies of the U.S. patent 
application listed below may be obtained by writing to the indicated 
licensing contact at the Office of Technology Transfer, National 
Institutes of Health, 6011 Executive Boulevard, Suite 325, Rockville, 
Maryland 20852-3804; telephone: 301/496-7057; fax: 301/402-0220. A 
signed Confidential Disclosure Agreement will be required to receive 
copies of the patent application.

B-Defensins as Activators of Dendritic Cells and Vaccine Carrier

Arya Biragyn and Larry Kwak (NCI).
U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/421,488 filed 25 Oct 2002 (DHHS 
Reference No. E-342-2002/0-US-01).
Licensing Contact: Catherine Joyce; 301/435-5031; e-mail: 
[email protected].

    Tumor antigens are known to be poorly immunogenic and attempts to 
elicit immune responses against the epitopes of antigens specific to 
tumor cells have been largely unsuccessful. The inventors have 
developed a cancer vaccine comprising a defensin fused to a tumor 
antigen or viral antigen to enhance the immunogenicity of the tumor 
antigen or viral antigen. The inventors have demonstrated, with animal 
data, that chimeric proteins comprising a defensin fused to a model 
tumor antigen (lymphoma-derived single-chain Fv) generate a measurable 
humoral and anti-tumor cellular immune response when administered to a 
subject. (Biragyn et al., Mediators of innate immunity that target 
immature, but not mature, dendritic cells induce antitumor immunity 
when genetically fused with nonimmunogenic tumor antigens, J. 
Immunology 2001 Dec 1, 167(11):6644-6653. Also, Biragyn et al., DNA 
vaccines encoding human immunodeficiency virus-1 glycoprotein 120 
fusions with proinflammatory chemoattractants induce systemic and 
mucosal immune responses, Blood 2002 Aug 15 100(4):1153-1159.)
    Recently the inventors have further discovered that murine beta-
defensin 2 acts directly on immature dendritic cells as an endogenous 
ligand for Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4), inducing up-regulation of 
costimulatory molecules and dendritic cell maturation. (Biragyn et al., 
Toll-like receptor 4-dependent activation of dendritic cells by beta-
defensin 2, Science 2002 Nov 1, 298(5595):1025-1029).
    The above-mentioned invention is available for licensing on an 
exclusive or a non-exclusive basis.

    Dated: October 24, 2003.
Steven M. Ferguson,
Director, Division of Technology Development and Transfer, Office of 
Technology Transfer, National Institutes of Health.
[FR Doc. 03-28057 Filed 11-6-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P