Search results for "VECTORS"
showing 10 items of 601 documents
Anti-ageing gene therapy: Not so far away?
2019
Improving healthspan is the main objective of anti-ageing research. Currently, innovative gene therapy-based approaches seem to be among the most promising for preventing and treating chronic polygenic pathologies, including age-related ones. The gene-based therapy allows to modulate the genome architecture using both direct (e.g., by gene editing) and indirect (e.g., by viral or non-viral vectors) approaches. Nevertheless, considering the extraordinary complexity of processes involved in ageing and ageing-related diseases, the effectiveness of these therapeutic options is often unsatisfactory and limited by their side-effects. Thus, clinical implementation of such applications is certainly…
Spatial clustering of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato within populations of Allen's chipmunks and dusky-footed woodrats in northwestern California.
2017
The ecology of Lyme borreliosis is complex in northwestern California, with several potential reservoir hosts, tick vectors, and genospecies of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato. The primary objective of this study was to determine the fine-scale spatial distribution of different genospecies in four rodent species, the California ground squirrel (Otospermophilus beecheyi), northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus), dusky-footed woodrat (Neotoma fuscipes), and Allen's chipmunk (Neotamias senex). Rodents were live-trapped between June 2004 and May 2005 at the Hoopa Valley Tribal Reservation (HVTR) in Humboldt County, California. Ear-punch biopsies obtained from each rodent were tested by po…
Improved display of synthetic IgG-binding domains on the baculovirus surface.
2004
Improved display of foreign protein moieties in combination with beneficial alteration of the viral surface properties should be of value for targeted and enhanced gene delivery. Here, we describe a vector based on Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) displaying synthetic IgG-binding domains (ZZ) of protein A fused to the transmembrane anchor of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) G protein. This display vector was equipped with a GFP/EGFP expression cassette enabling fluorescent detection in both insect and mammalian cells. The virus construct displayed the biologically active fusion protein efficiently and showed increased binding capacity to IgG. As the display is …
Gene therapy for chondral and osteochondral regeneration: is the future now?
2017
Gene therapy might represent a promising strategy for chondral and osteochondral defects repair by balancing the management of temporary joint mechanical incompetence with altered metabolic and inflammatory homeostasis. This review analysed preclinical and clinical studies on gene therapy for the repair of articular cartilage defects performed over the last 10 years, focussing on expression vectors (non-viral and viral), type of genes delivered and gene therapy procedures (direct or indirect). Plasmids (non-viral expression vectors) and adenovirus (viral vectors) were the most employed vectors in preclinical studies. Genes delivered encoded mainly for growth factors, followed by transcripti…
ICTV Virus Taxonomy Profile: Dicistroviridae
2017
Dicistroviridae is a family of small non-enveloped viruses with monopartite, linear, positive-sense RNA genomes of approximately 8–10 kb. Viruses of all classified species infect arthropod hosts, with some having devastating economic consequences, such as acute bee paralysis virus in domesticated honeybees and taura syndrome virus in shrimp farming. Conversely, the host specificity and other desirable traits exhibited by several members of this group make them potential natural enemies for intentional use against arthropod pests, such as triatoma virus against triatomine bugs that vector Chagas disease. This is a summary of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) Report on…
Upgrading HepG2 cells with adenoviral vectors that encode drug-metabolizing enzymes: application for drug hepatotoxicity testing.
2016
Drug attrition rates due to hepatotoxicity are an important safety issue considered in drug development. The HepG2 hepatoma cell line is currently being used for drug-induced hepatotoxicity evaluations, but its expression of drug-metabolizing enzymes is poor compared with hepatocytes. Different approaches have been proposed to upgrade HepG2 cells for more reliable drug-induced liver injury predictions. Areas covered: We describe the advantages and limitations of HepG2 cells transduced with adenoviral vectors that encode drug-metabolizing enzymes for safety risk assessments of bioactivable compounds. Adenoviral transduction facilitates efficient and controlled delivery of multiple drug-metab…
Stable and Efficient Genetic Modification of Cells in the Adult Mouse V-SVZ for the Analysis of Neural Stem Cell Autonomous and Non-autonomous Effects
2016
Relatively quiescent somatic stem cells support life-long cell renewal in most adult tissues. Neural stem cells in the adult mammalian brain are restricted to two specific neurogenic niches: the subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus in the hippocampus and the ventricular-subventricular zone (V-SVZ; also called subependymal zone or SEZ) in the walls of the lateral ventricles. The development of in vivo gene transfer strategies for adult stem cell populations (i.e. those of the mammalian brain) resulting in long-term expression of desired transgenes in the stem cells and their derived progeny is a crucial tool in current biomedical and biotechnological research. Here, a direct in vivo method …
The exonuclease Xrn1 activates transcription and translation of mRNAs encoding membrane proteins
2019
The highly conserved 5’–3’ exonuclease Xrn1 regulates gene expression in eukaryotes by coupling nuclear DNA transcription to cytosolic mRNA decay. By integrating transcriptome-wide analyses of translation with biochemical and functional studies, we demonstrate an unanticipated regulatory role of Xrn1 in protein synthesis. Xrn1 promotes translation of a specific group of transcripts encoding membrane proteins. Xrn1-dependence for translation is linked to poor structural RNA contexts for translation initiation, is mediated by interactions with components of the translation initiation machinery and correlates with an Xrn1-dependence for mRNA localization at the endoplasmic reticulum, the trans…
Non-primate lentiviral vectors and their applications in gene therapy for ocular disorders
2018
Lentiviruses have a number of molecular features in common, starting with the ability to integrate their genetic material into the genome of non-dividing infected cells. A peculiar property of non-primate lentiviruses consists in their incapability to infect and induce diseases in humans, thus providing the main rationale for deriving biologically safe lentiviral vectors for gene therapy applications. In this review, we first give an overview of non-primate lentiviruses, highlighting their common and distinctive molecular characteristics together with key concepts in the molecular biology of lentiviruses. We next examine the bioengineering strategies leading to the conversion of lentiviruse…
Aedes albopictus diversity and relationships in south-western Europe and Brazil by rDNA/mtDNA and phenotypic analyses: ITS-2, a useful marker for spr…
2021
AbstractBackgroundAedes albopictusis a very invasive mosquito, which has recently colonized tropical and temperate regions worldwide. Of concern is its role in the spread of emerging or re-emerging mosquito-borne diseases.Ae. albopictusfrom south-western Europe and Brazil were studied to infer genetic and phenetic diversity at intra-individual, intra-population and inter-population levels, and to analyse its spread.MethodsGenotyping was made by rDNA 5.8S-ITS-2 and mtDNAcox1 sequencing to assess haplotype and nucleotide diversity, genetic distances and phylogenetic networks. Male and female phenotyping included combined landmark-and outlined-based geometric morphometrics of wing size and sha…