CELL LINES FOR THE PROPAGATION OF MUTATED HERPES VIRUSES

摘要

A process for propagating a mutant herpes virus having a mutation in its endogenous HSV VP16 gene or a homologue thereof, which process comprises infecting a cell line with the mutant herpes virus and culturing the cell line, wherein the cell line comprises a nucleic acid sequence encoding a functional herpes simplex virus (HSV) VP16 polypeptide, or a homologue thereof, operably linked to a control sequence permitting expression of the polypeptide in said cell line; the nucleic acid sequence being (i) capable of complementing the endogenous gene and (ii) unable to undergo homologous recombination with the endogenous gene. In addition, the present invention provides cell lines which can be used for the growth of mutant herpes viruses which have defects in certain immediate early genes together with mutations in VP16 or homologue thereof.