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Development of Cell-type specific anti-HIV gp120 aptamers for siRNA delivery
Published on: June 23, 2011
Construction of a novel virus that targets HIV-1-infected cells and controls HIV-1 infection
M J Schnell1, J E Johnson, L Buonocore
1Department of Pathology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06510, USA.
Abstract:
We describe a recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus lacking its glycoprotein gene and expressing instead the HIV-1 receptor CD4 and a coreceptor, CXCR4. This virus was unable to infect normal cells but did infect, propagate on, and kill cells that were first infected with HIV-1 and therefore had the HIV membrane fusion protein on their surface. Killing of HIV-1-infected cells controlled HIV infection in a T cell line and reduced titers of infectious HIV-1 in the culture by as much as 10(4)-fold. Such a targeted virus could have therapeutic value in reducing HIV viral load. Our results also demonstrate a general strategy of targeting one virus to the envelope protein of another virus to control infection.
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