title: Intracellular immunization against SIVmac utilizing a hairpin ribozyme.
abstract: A hairpin ribozyme targeting the 3' LTR region (9456) of SIVmac238 was cloned into a murine retroviral vector. This target sequence is conserved among various SIV, as well as most HIV-2, strains. The ribozyme cassette is driven from a polymerase III promoter, that of the human tRNAval gene. Hybrid human B-/T-cell lines (CEM/174) were transduced with the retroviral constructs and selected for G418 resistance. Cells stably expressing the 9456 ribozyme exhibited long-term resistance to infection by a pathogenic molecular clone of SIV and two strains of HIV-2. The ribozyme was also able to effectively reduce the proviral DNA burden. Its efficient protection against SIV/HIV-2 infection constitutes an important step toward evaluating ribozyme gene therapy in a primate model.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla 92093-0665, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heusch
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kraus
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wong-Staal
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D004279:DNA, Viral; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D015498:HIV-2 / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016337:RNA, Catalytic / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015302:Simian Immunodeficiency Virus / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D016337:RNA, Catalytic; D011994:Recombinant Proteins