title: Incorporation of dengue virus replicon into virus-like particles by a cell line stably expressing precursor membrane and envelope proteins of dengue virus type 2.
abstract: While virus-like particles (VLPs) containing subgenomic replicons, which can transduce replicons into target cells efficiently for studying viral replication and vectors of gene therapy and vaccine, have been established for several flaviviruses, none has been reported for the four serotypes of dengue virus, the causal agent of the most important arboviral diseases in this century. In this study, we successfully established a cell line stably expressing the precursor membrane/envelope (PrM/E) proteins of dengue virus type 2 (DENV2), which can package a DENV2 replicon with deletion of PrM/E genes and produce single-round infectious VLPs. Moreover, it can package a similar replicon of different serotype, dengue virus type 4, and produce infectious chimeric VLPs. To our knowledge, this study reports for the first time replicon-containing VLPs of dengue virus. Moreover, this convenient system has potential as a valuable tool to study encapsidation of dengue virus and to develop novel chimeric VLPs containing dengue virus replicon as vaccine in the future.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, No.1 Sec.1 Jen-Ai Rd, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chih-Yun
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Hsien-Ping
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Chwan-Chuen
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: Wei-Kung
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D002678:Chimera / Q000235:genetics; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D003716:Dengue Virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D015870:Gene Expression; D005814:Genes, Viral; D006801:Humans; D012093:Replicon; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D014771:Virion / Q000235:genetics; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004279:DNA, Viral; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins