No abstract available.
Humans* ; Retroviridae*

Interleukin 12 (IL-12), a heterodimeric cytokine, promotes an effective antitumor response against tumors of various histological types when delivered systemically as a protein or locally by gene transfer. We investigated parameters that influenced the effectiveness of IL-12 retroviral-mediated gene therapy of cancer in animals using the murine breast cancer line TS/A. Syngeneic fibroblasts (TIB80), stably transduced with a retrovirus expressing murine IL-12, were used for peritumoral injection. Injection of fibroblasts into established tumors resulted in complete regression of tumor in 40 % of animals in a dose dependent manner when treated on day 4, and 20 % when treated on day 8. Significant inhibition of growth of day 21 and day 40 tumors was observed following peritumoral injection of IL-12-expressing fibroblasts in a dose-dependent manner. Delivery of IL-12 by syngeneic fibroblasts at a tumor site is effective in eradicating established, weakly immunogenic TS/A tumors.
Animals ; Breast Neoplasms ; Fibroblasts ; Genetic Therapy* ; Interleukin-12* ; Retroviridae

Background : Gene transfer with vectors derived from murine retroviruses is restricted to cells which are proliferating and synthesizing DNA at the time of infection. Accordingly, selective introduction of genes encoding for susceptibility to otherwise nontoxic drugs (suicide genes) into proliferating tumor may be used to treat cancer. We investigated the efficacy of in vitro transduction of neuroblastoma cell with the herpes simplex-thymidine kinase (HSV-tk) gene followed by administration of the antiviral drug ganciclovir. METHODS: The LNC/tK vector was transfered in vitro into mouse Neuro 2a cell lines (ATCC) and the transduced cell lines were selected in G-418, 500microgram/ml, for 14 days. Onex104 cells were cultured in 96 well culture plates in increasing concentrations of ganciclovir for 72 hours. The sesitivity to ganciclivir of these HSV-tk transduced, G-418 selected cells was measured with MTT assay RESULTS: The survival of HSV-tk transduced 1x104 neuro 2a cell lines is 103+/-3.5%, 68+/-4.2%, 54+/-3.8%, 17+/-2.6%, 13+/-3.1% at the concentration of 0, 0.1, 1.0, 10, 20microgram/ml ganciclovir, respectively. And the survival of HSV-tk not transduced 1x104 neuro 2a cell lines is 100+/-4.5%, 97+/-5.6%, 104+/-3.5%, 106+/-3.8%, 101+/-4.2%. CONCLUSION: We concluded that in vitro transduction of neuroblastoma cell with the herpes simplex-thymidine kinase gene followed by administration of the antiviral drug ganciclovir is very effective.
Animals ; Cell Line* ; DNA ; Ganciclovir ; Mice ; Neuroblastoma* ; Phosphotransferases ; Retroviridae ; Zidovudine*

Background : Gene transfer with vectors derived from murine retroviruses is restricted to cells which are proliferating and synthesizing DNA at the time of infection. Accordingly, selective introduction of genes encoding for susceptibility to otherwise nontoxic drugs (suicide genes) into proliferating tumor may be used to treat cancer. We investigated the efficacy of in vitro transduction of neuroblastoma cell with the herpes simplex-thymidine kinase (HSV-tk) gene followed by administration of the antiviral drug ganciclovir. METHODS: The LNC/tK vector was transfered in vitro into mouse Neuro 2a cell lines (ATCC) and the transduced cell lines were selected in G-418, 500microgram/ml, for 14 days. Onex104 cells were cultured in 96 well culture plates in increasing concentrations of ganciclovir for 72 hours. The sesitivity to ganciclivir of these HSV-tk transduced, G-418 selected cells was measured with MTT assay RESULTS: The survival of HSV-tk transduced 1x104 neuro 2a cell lines is 103+/-3.5%, 68+/-4.2%, 54+/-3.8%, 17+/-2.6%, 13+/-3.1% at the concentration of 0, 0.1, 1.0, 10, 20microgram/ml ganciclovir, respectively. And the survival of HSV-tk not transduced 1x104 neuro 2a cell lines is 100+/-4.5%, 97+/-5.6%, 104+/-3.5%, 106+/-3.8%, 101+/-4.2%. CONCLUSION: We concluded that in vitro transduction of neuroblastoma cell with the herpes simplex-thymidine kinase gene followed by administration of the antiviral drug ganciclovir is very effective.
Animals ; Cell Line* ; DNA ; Ganciclovir ; Mice ; Neuroblastoma* ; Phosphotransferases ; Retroviridae ; Zidovudine*

Human leukemia is closely associated with various genetic alterations such as chromosomal translocations and gene mutations. The use of retroviral transduction/bone marrow transplantation mouse model harboring these genetic abnormalities has been critical in understanding the molecular pathogenesis of leukemia and exploring new therapeutic target. Additional genetic events are verified to cooperate with fusion genes resulting from chromosomal translocations in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) to develop a leukemic phenotype in mice, such as C-KIT N822K with AML1-ETO, FLT3-ITD with PML-RARα, Meis1 with NUP98-HOX, and Cdx4 with MLL-AF9. Mouse model shows that BCR/ABL fusion gene induces chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), and suggests that GATA-2 L359V and high expression of Hes1 are key molecules in acute myeloid transformation of CML. Furthermore, combination therapy with Imatinib and arsenic sulfide for CML mice exerts more profound therapeutic effects than either drug as a single agent. This review focuses the recent progress and application of retroviral-mediated mouse models of myeloid leukemia, and discusses some factors influencing the mouse model establishment, including retroviral construction, retrovirus titer and hematopoietic microenvironment.
Animals ; Disease Models, Animal ; Leukemia, Myeloid ; genetics ; Mice ; Retroviridae ; genetics

Foamy virus can establish lifelong persistent infection in mammal hosts without inducing diseases. Such special characteristic stimulates the interests of researchers. As reported, the accessory protein Bet of foamy virus could regulate the gene expression and infection cycle of foamy virus and take part in the generation of chronic viral infection. And also, Bet might prevent the host cellular defense factor APO-BEC3 from interfering the replication of virus and play a role in maintaining viral persistent infection. In order to elucidate the roles of Bet in the foamy virus replication and infection, this review summarized the research progress of Bet protein reported in recent years.
Animals ; Gene Expression Regulation, Viral ; Humans ; Retroviridae Infections ; immunology ; virology ; Retroviridae Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Spumavirus ; genetics ; metabolism

The study was conducted on 32 HIV positive patients (24 males and 8 females, over 15 years old, with CD4 T-cell counts <350 cell/mm3) who were treated with antiretrovirus therapy (Videx and Zerit) at Dong Da Hospital from Nov 2002 to Oct 2003. The results showed that ARV therapy is effective. The weight, Kanofsky scores, and T CD4 counts of patients were increased significantly after 6 months of treatment. Side effects included fatigue, headache, nausea, but only on first week. Enzyme amylase was increased slightly after 6 months of treatment
Anti-HIV Agents ; Anti-Retroviral Agents ; HIV ; Therapeutics ; Pharmaceutical Preparations ; Retroviridae

Carrier Proteins ; metabolism ; physiology ; HIV-1 ; physiology ; Models, Biological ; Proteins ; metabolism ; physiology ; Retroviridae Infections ; virology

Base Pairing ; Dimerization ; Genome, Viral ; RNA, Viral ; chemistry ; genetics ; Retroviridae ; chemistry ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo clone hsa-miR-148a and construct its retroviral expression vector.

METHODSThe pre-miR-148a amplified by PCR was inserted to pMSCV to construct the recombinant retroviral expression plasmid pMSCV-miR-148a, which was confirmed by restriction endonuclease analysis and DNA sequencing. The retroviral expression vector pMSCV-miR-148a and PIK packaging plasmid were cotransfected into 293FT packaging cells by calcium phosphate-mediated transfection to produce the retrovirus, and the retrovirus titer was measured by infection of NIH3T3 cells.

RESULTSRestriction enzyme digestion and DNA sequencing demonstrated that the retroviral vector pMSCV-miR-148a was constructed successfully, and the virus titer was 5x10(8) CFU/ml after infection of NIH3T3 cells.

CONCLUSIONThe successful construction of the retroviral expression vector MSCV-miR-148a allows the production of high-titer retrovirus to facilitate further study of the molecular functions of miR-148a.