title: Development and characterization of promoterless helper RNAs for the production of alphavirus replicon particle.
abstract: Alphavirus-based replicon systems are frequently used as preclinical vectors and as antigen discovery tools, and they have recently been assessed in clinical vaccine trials. Typically, alphavirus replicon RNAs are delivered within virus-like replicon particles (VRP) that are produced following transfection of replicon RNA and two helper RNAs into permissive cells in vitro. The non-structural proteins expressed from the replicon RNA amplify the replicon RNA in cis and the helper RNAs in trans, the latter providing the viral structural proteins necessary to package the replicon RNA into VRP. Current helper RNA designs incorporate the alphavirus 26S promoter to direct the transcription of high levels of structural gene mRNAs. We demonstrate here that the 26S promoter is not required on helper RNAs to produce VRP and propose that such promoterless helper RNAs, by design, reduce the probability of generating replication-competent virus that may otherwise result from RNA recombination.
authors.affiliation: AlphaVax, Inc., 2 Triangle Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA. Kamrud@alphavax.com
authors.forename: K I
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Kamrud
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Alterson
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Custer
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dudek
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Goodman
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Owens
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000524:Alphavirus / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000502:physiology*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D014709:Vero Cells; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral