Patent ID: 7572453

Claim:
A chimeric alphavirus replicon particle comprising: a) an alphavirus replicon RNA, comprising: (1) a nucleotide sequence encoding one or more nonstructural proteins from a first alphavirus, (2) a packaging signal derived from a second alphavirus , and (3) a heterologous nucleic acid sequence encoding an antigen, wherein said packaging signal is inserted into a site selected from the group consisting of (i) the junction of nsP3 with nsP4, (ii) following the nsP4 open reading frame and (iii) a deletion in a nonstructural protein gene; b) a capsid protein comprising: (1) an RNA binding domain derived from the second alphavirus ; and (2) an envelope glycoprotein interaction domain; c) an alphavirus E2 glycoprotein comprising an E2 cytoplasmic tail, wherein the E2 cytoplasmic tail and the envelope glycoprotein interaction domain are derived from the same alphavirus ; and d) an alphavirus E1 glycoprotein, wherein at least one of the E2 cytoplasmic tail or the E1 glycoprotein is derived from said second alphavirus virus, and wherein said first alphavirus is a Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) virus and said second alphavirus is not a VEE virus.