title: Influenza virus hemagglutinin HA-2 N-terminal fusogenic peptides augment gene transfer by transferrin-polylysine-DNA complexes: toward a synthetic virus-like gene-transfer vehicle.
abstract: Complexes containing plasmid DNA, transferrin-polylysine conjugates, and polylysine-conjugated peptides derived from the N-terminal sequence of the influenza virus hemagglutinin subunit HA-2 have been used for the transfer of luciferase or beta-galactosidase marker genes to K562 cells, HeLa cells, and BNL CL.2 hepatocytes. These DNA complexes mimic the entry of viruses into cells, as they contain functions for (i) the packaging of the nucleic acid with polylysine, (ii) the attachment to the cell and receptor-mediated endocytosis with transferrin as a ligand, and (iii) the release from endosomes by using membrane-disrupting influenza peptides. The presence of these influenza peptide conjugates in the DNA complexes renders the complexes active in membrane disruption in a liposome leakage assay and results in a substantial augmentation of the transferrin-polylysine-mediated gene transfer.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Plank
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zatloukal
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cotten
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Birnstiel
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D015870:Gene Expression; D005796:Genes; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006389:Hemagglutinins, Viral; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D009980:Influenza A virus / Q000737:chemistry; D008081:Liposomes; D008156:Luciferases / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011107:Polylysine; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D014162:Transfection; D014168:Transferrin; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D014760:Viral Fusion Proteins; D001616:beta-Galactosidase / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D006389:Hemagglutinins, Viral; D008081:Liposomes; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D014168:Transferrin; D014760:Viral Fusion Proteins; C452559:hemagglutinin HA-2 fusogenic peptide, Influenza virus; D011107:Polylysine; D008156:Luciferases; D001616:beta-Galactosidase