It is thus an object of the invention to provide novel
methods and substances for vaccination and/or treatment,
particularly to improve and enhance the effects of nucleic
acid vaccines and medicaments. The methods and sub
stances to be provided by the invention should be applicable
for a Wide spectrum of vaccination and treatment purposes.
The substances and methods according to the object of the
invention should have loW or no toxicity to the treated
vertebrate or healthy cells, tissues and organs of such
vertebrate. The substances should be easy to prepare, stable
and inexpensive. The methods of vaccination and/or treat
ment should also be easy to perform and not require expen
sive additional equipment.
[0017] It is another object of the invention to provide
substances and methods for the preparation of cells With
dendritic and/or ?brocyte like phenotype. The substances
should be easy to prepare, stable and inexpensive. The
methods should have a high yield of at least one of these cell
types. They should also be easy to perform and not require
expensive additional equipment.
[0018] The inventors have noW found that pine cone
extracts have excellent adjuvant properties When combined
With vaccines or medicaments for immunotherapy. The
inventors have also found that pine cone extracts can induce
differentiation of a number of cell types into cells With a
phenotype of immature and/or mature dendritic and/or ?bro
cyte cells. The inventors have also found that a fraction of
pine cone extracts is particularly useful for achieving the
above objects.
[0019] It is the object of the invention to provide a method
for the production of a pine cone extract. It is a further object
of the invention to provided a pine cone extract produced by
that method.
[0020] Another object of the invention is to provide sys
tems for vaccination and/or therapy of vertebrates including
a kit that has a vaccine and an adjuvant or a medicament and
an adjuvant; and providing methods for administering the
vaccinating and/or treating to a vertebrate.
[0021] An even further object of the present invention is to
provide a method for producing phenotypically immature
and/or mature dendritic and/or ?brocyte cells.