UTILISATION DE HIV-1 TAT BIOLOGIQUEMENT ACTIVE, DE SES FRAGMENTS OU DERIVES, POUR CIBLER ET/OU ACTIVER DES CELLULES PRESENTANT DES ANTIGENES ET/OU PRODUIRE DES MOLECULES DE CARGAISON POUR UNE VACCINATION PROPHYLACTIQUE OU THERAPEUTIQUE ET/OU TRAITER D'AUTRES MALADIES
The present invention concerns a method for prophylactic and/or therapeuticvaccination and/or treatment and/or diagnosis of HIV/AIDS, other infectiousdiseases, inflammatory and angiogenic diseases and tumours which utilizes abiologically active HIV-1 Tat protein, fragments or derivates thereof, as amodule with one or more of the following features: antigen, adjuvant andtargeting-delivery system to specific antigen-presenting cells includingdendritic cells, endothelial cells and macrophages. In particular, it isclaimed that Tat can be used only in its biologically active form as anantigen combined with one or more other antigens, to prime or to boostprotective immune responses against itself as well as other antigens and/or toselectively deliver these antigen(s) as well as active compounds to dendriticcells, endothelial cells and macrophages, due to its capability of targetingthese A PC and of activating their maturation and functions and of increasingTh-1 type immune responses as an adjuvant. Therefore, due to thesecharacteristics and to the distribution of these cells in the body (duringphysiological and pathological disorders), biologically active Tat, fragmentsor derivates thereof containing the RGD region, can be used for preventive,therapeutic and/or diagnostic purposes for HIV/AIDS, other infectiousdiseases, inflammatory and angiogenic diseases and tumors.
