title: Altering retroviral tropism using a random-display envelope library.
abstract: Tissue-specific gene delivery is an important aspect of many gene therapy applications. The experiments reported here constitute the first successful demonstration that cell-specific entry can be obtained by screening a random library of retroviral envelope proteins produced from a mammalian cell system. The library consisted of 10(6) different subgroup A feline leukemia virus envelope protein variants with 10 randomly substituted amino acids in the receptor-determining region. Selecting the library for fully functional envelope proteins able to mediate stable gene transfer resulted in the identification of a single envelope protein variant (EF). Subsequent examination of the host range of EF revealed that it was highly specific for D17 canine osteosarcoma cells. This was in contrast to the host ranges of the parental subgroup A and closely related subgroup C envelope proteins. Interference assays on D17 cells further indicated that receptor usage by EF was also altered compared with the A and C envelope proteins. The EF envelope protein thus isolated should be useful for studying gene therapy treatments of osteosarcoma in a large-animal model.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, 675 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA.
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bupp
authors.forename: Monica J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Roth
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D004285:Dogs; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D005256:Leukemia Virus, Feline / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009928:Organ Specificity; D019151:Peptide Library; D014162:Transfection; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D019151:Peptide Library; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins