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Assessment of Herpesvirus saimiri as a potential human gene therapy vector
Author(s) -
Stevenson Alex J.,
Cooper Matthew,
Griffiths Joanne C.,
Gibson Paul C.,
Whitehouse Adrian,
Jones Elena F.,
Markham Alexander F.,
Kinsey Sally E.,
Meredith David M.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1096-9071(199903)57:3<269::aid-jmv10>3.0.co;2-8
Subject(s) - virology , biology , genetic enhancement , virus , vector (molecular biology) , gene , recombinant virus , viral vector , genome , recombinant dna , genetics
Herpesvirus saimiri has characteristics that make it amenable to development as a gene therapy vector. The viral genome is thought to be capable of accommodating large quantities of heterologous DNA while the virus itself can infect many different cell types. Virus infection has been shown in many cases to be persistent by virtue of episomal maintenance in the target cell. In this article we examine the ability of nonselectable recombinant viruses expressing the β‐galactosidase gene product to infect a variety of human cells and demonstrate that this virus could be developed as an alternative hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy vector. In contrast to earlier observations, we demonstrate by a number of methods that the virus has the ability to replicate in many human cell types, suggesting the need for the development of a disabled virus for use as a gene therapy vector. J. Med. Virol. 57:269–277, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.