Other

Ken Shortman

Xandra O Breakefield

E Antonio Chiocca

Mark Suter

Gosse Jan Adema

Yoshinaga Saeki

Mathias Ackermann

Cornel Fraefel

Kurt Tobler

The present invention relates to an enhanced and simplified herpes virus amplicon packaging system. The packaging system comprises a herpes virus amplicon vector and a packaging vector. In one embodiment, the packaging vector comprises a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) containing the HSV-1 genome. The packaging vector contains an intact pac site but is otherwise rendered packaging defective. The packaging vector can be rendered packaging defective by inserting nucleotides into the pac site, or by otherwise interfering with the capsid's ability to close, for example, by increasing the size of the DNA fragment upon which the herpes virus genome is cloned. This system can be used to package a wide range of nucleotide sequences (e.g., a therapeutic or antigenic gene) into an empty herpes virus particle taking advantage of the large transgene capacity of herpes viruses. This system can also be used as a vaccine to induce protective immunity against HSV-1, or other complex pathogens.

Enhanced packaging of herpes virus amplicons and generation of recombinant virus vectors

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Melbourne, Australia

Ken Shortman