PSEUDOTYPED RETROVIRAL VECTOR FOR GENE THERAPY OF CANCER

摘要

The invention relates to retroviral expression vectors and more particularly to pseudotyped retroviral vectors for gene therapy of cancer. Direct in vivo tumor-targeting with "suicide" viral vectors is limited by inefficient gene transfer and indiscriminate transfer of a contitionally toxic gene to surrounding non-malignant tissue. Retrovectors pseudotyped with a Vesicular Stomatitis Virus G protein (VSVG) may serve as a remedy to this conundrum. These retroviral particles differ from standard murine retroviruses by their very broad tropism and the capacity to be concentrated by ultracentrifugation without loss of activity. A VSVG-typed retrovector can be utilized for efficient and tumor specific Herpes Simplex Virus Thymidine Kinase (TK) gene delivery in vivo. A bicistronic retroviral vector which expresses TK and Green Fluorescence Protein (pTKiGFP) was constructed.