RECOMBINANT DNA MOLECULE INCLUDING THE NUCLEOTIDE SEQUENCE OF PART OF THE HBV PRE-S1 CODING REGION, AN IMMUNOGENIC PARTICLE CONTAINING A PLURALITY OF MONOMERS OF A PEPTIDE CONTAINING A PRE-S1 EPITOPE AND PHARMACEUTICAL COMPOSITIONS CONTAINING THE SAME

摘要

A recombinant DNA molecule comprising an expression control sequence operatively linked to first and second DNA sequences linked in frame, said DNA sequences each encoding a discrete region of a single peptide expressed by said recombinant DNA molecule, and said first DNA sequence being closer to said expression control sequence than said second DNA sequence, characterised in that: (a) said first DNA sequence comprises the nucleotide sequence of part of the HBV pre-S1 coding region wherein a 5'- terminal region of said pre-S1 coding region containing the pre-S1 region ATG start codon has been replaced by a 5'- terminal coding region of the HBV S region containing the S region ATG start codon, and said first DNA sequence encodes an HBV pre-S1 epitope; and (b) said second DNA sequence comprises nucleotide sequence of the HBV S coding region wherein the ATG start codon is absent and encodes a peptide which upon secretion will direct formation of particles that will provoke an immune response against the pre-S1 epitope. 2656 ו' בתשרי התשס" ג - September 12, 2002