Herpes Simplex Virus Vector Development Service
The goal of gene therapy is to deliver transgenic cells into specific cells to generate a therapeutic effect by correcting existing abnormalities or endowing the cells with new functions. The herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a human neurotropic dsDNA virus which has large envelope, with the characteristics of life-long latent infection of neurons, and allows for long-term transgene expression. Creative Biolabs provides a series of services, including HSV vector design and construction, purification, production and quality verification, providing high titer and purity HSV vectors for basic, preclinical and clinical research.
Herpes Simplex Virus Vector Construction
The herpes simplex virus (HSV) is one of the most competitive candidates for gene delivery vectors. The HSV vector possesses a double stranded linear genome of 150kb and due to its neurotrophic nature, it has the greatest potential for gene delivery to the nervous system and tumor cells. The HSV-1 vector does not integrate into the host genome, resulting in transient expression in infected cells. Most HSV vectors are developed from strains of HSV-1. HSV-1 infection can be lytic or latent. It may persist for many years.
Fig.1 Herpes simplex virus vector genome
Partial deletion of the HSV gene results in an expression vector with low toxicity and an excellent packaging capacity of >30 kb foreign DNA. Generally, the mutant strains of HSV-1 are used that lack the ability to replicate to avoid the host immune response. HSV-1 vectors are designed to defect ICP0, ICP4, ICP22, ICP27 or ICP47 to reduce toxicity. In addition, Creative Biolabs utilizes advanced biomolecular techniques and gene knockout techniques to construct HSV vectors to meet the diverse needs of basic research and clinical trials. The design and construction of HSV vectors including knockout multiple genes in genome feature the use of appropriate promoters and the insertion of foreign genes.
Delivery Potential of Herpes Simplex Virus Vector
HSV vectors have a natural tropism toward neuronal cells and can be exploited for either corrective gene therapies or cancer gene therapies for neurogenic tumors. HSV vectors have been applied in various diseases due to their long-term effect, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN), sensory neuropathy (SN), Epilepsy, Multiple sclerosis and encephalitis, et al.
Fig.2 The application of herpes simplex virus vector
Features
- Large size: large insertion capacity
- Broad host range: infect dividing and nondividing cells
- Continuous expression of genes from long-lived infection
- Little risk of insertional mutagenesis
- Low toxicity
- Relatively stable and can be concentrated to high virus titer
- Tropism for neural cells used to target neurons
By virtue of the HSV vector technology platform, Creative Biolabs provides the target gene packaging design and construction services of replication-defective HSV vectors for its worldwide clients. Please feel free to contact us for more details and our scientists will conduct further in-depth discussion on your project.
Reference
- Manservigi, R.; et al. (2010). HSV recombinant vectors for gene therapy. The open virology journal, 4, 123.
