Patent ID: 8337859

Claim:
A vector comprising at least a first nucleic acid molecule encoding a first polypeptide and a second nucleic acid molecule encoding a second polypeptide wherein: said first and second nucleic acid molecules are obtained respectively from a first and second native nucleic acid sequences which exhibit a percentage of homology of approximately 80% or greater than 80% over a portion of 40 or more continuous nucleotides; said first nucleic acid molecule and/or said second nucleic acid molecule are modified so as to reduce the percentage of homology to less than 75%; said first nucleic acid molecule and said second nucleic acid molecule encode at least the same polypeptide obtained from closely related HPV serotypes; and wherein the codon usage pattern is modified in such a way that homologous portions between the first and second nucleic acid molecules are restricted to less than 8 consecutive nucleotides and wherein said closely related HPV serotypes are selected from the group consisting of HPV-16, HPV-18, HPV-33, and HPV-52.