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Journal of Virology, April 1999, p. 2832-2840, Vol. 73, No. 4
Departments of
Medicine,1 Microbiology and
Immunology,2 and
Neurology,3 University of Rochester
Cancer Center, Rochester, New York 14642
Received 28 August 1998/Accepted 23 December 1998
Lentivirus vectors based on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type
1 (HIV-1) constitute a recent development in the field of
gene therapy. A key property of HIV-1-derived vectors is their ability
to infect nondividing cells. Although high-titer HIV-1-derived vectors
have been produced, concerns regarding safety still exist. Safety concerns arise mainly from the possibility of recombination between transfer and packaging vectors, which may give rise to replication-competent viruses with pathogenic potential. We describe a
novel lentivirus vector which is based on HIV, simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), and vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) and which we refer to
as HIV/SIVpack/G. In this system, an HIV-1-derived genome is
encapsidated by SIVmac core particles. These core particles are
pseudotyped with VSV glycoprotein G. Because the
nucleotide homology between HIV-1 and SIVmac is low, the likelihood of
recombination between vector elements should be reduced. In
addition, the packaging construct (SIVpack) for this lentivirus
system was derived from SIVmac1A11, a nonvirulent SIV strain. Thus, the
potential for pathogenicity with this vector system is minimal. The
transduction ability of HIV/SIVpack/G was demonstrated with
immortalized human lymphocytes, human primary macrophages,
human bone marrow-derived CD34+ cells, and primary
mouse neurons. To our knowledge, these experiments constitute the first
demonstration that the HIV-1-derived genome can be packaged by an
SIVmac capsid. We demonstrate that the lentivirus vector described here
recapitulates the biological properties of HIV-1-derived vectors,
although with increased potential for safety in humans.
0022-538X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Lentivirus Vectors Using Human and Simian
Immunodeficiency Virus Elements
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Departments of
Medicine and Microbiology and Immunology, University of Rochester
Cancer Center, 601 Elmwood Ave., Box 704, Rochester, NY 14642. Phone: (716) 273-4474. Fax: (716) 273-1042. E-mail:
vicente_planelles{at}urmc.rochester.edu.
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