William M Gelbart
UCLA, USA
Title: Reconstituted virus-like particles as delivery systems for self-amplifying RNA genes for cancer detection and therapy
Biography
Biography: William M Gelbart
Abstract
In this talk I describe our synthesis of perfectly monodisperse and highly robust spherical virus-like particles (VLPs) from purified RNA and protein. The protein is from the capsid of the plant virus cowpea chlorotic mottle virus (CCMV), and the RNA is a genetically-engineered insect virus (Nodamura) genome, with genes of interest replacing its structural genes. Significantly, these non-infectious, hybrid, VLPs are capable of delivering their RNA content for efficient translation in mammalian cells; further, the first, RNA-dependent-RNA-polymerase (RdRp), gene product of their RNA gives rise to a high level of RNA replication, and hence to strong expression of the genes of interest that have been inserted into the RdRp-coding portion of Nodamura. Results are presented for the in vivo expression of ferritin protein for enhancing MRI contrast and of cancer antigens for eliciting immune response.