Autonomous Parvovirus and Densovirus Gene Vectors

Abstract

Publisher Summary Viruses have evolved as efficient natural vehicles of genetic information and they are logical systems to develop as gene vectors. Several members of the family Parvoviridae and Densovirus are being evaluated for their potential as gene delivery vehicles. Recombinant MVM and LuIII vectors bearing reporter genes have been used to transduce various transformed or untransformed cell lines. To extend the utility of the LuIII vectors, LuIII luciferase transducing genomes have been pseudotyped with virions from heterologous parvoviruses. The results suggest that packaging LuIII transducing genomes into heterologous virions can effectively alter the specificity of transduction and may allow delivery of genes to a wider variety of cell types. When specific tissues are to be targeted, it should be possible to restrict expression of the transgene to certain cell or tissue types with the use of transcriptional control elements. In the case of densovirus, initial results with several densoviruses indicate that they and their promoters will be useful for introducing and expressing foreign genes in insect cells and probably live insects. The β-galactosidase gene has been inserted into genomes of both JcDNV and AeDNV, and then packaged into particles able to deliver ZacZ to target cells in culture, indicating that it will also be possible to utilize these vectors for gene delivery.