期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：1990
卷号：87
期号：22
页码：8746-8750
DOI：10.1073/pnas.87.22.8746
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIVs) primarily infect CD4+ T lymphocytes, leading eventually to the development of a systemic immune dysfunction termed acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). An attractive strategy to combat HIV-mediated pathogenesis would be to eliminate the initial pool of infected cells and thus prevent disease progression. We have engineered a replication-defective, conditionally cytotoxic adenovirus vector, Ad-tk, whose action is dependent on the targeted expression of the herpes simplex virus type 1 thymidine kinase gene (tk), cloned downstream of the HIV-1 long terminal repeat, in human cells expressing the HIV-1 transcriptional activator Tat. Infection of Tat-expressing human HeLa or Jurkat cells with Ad-tk resulted in high-level tk expression, which was not deleterious to the viability of these cells. However, in the presence of the antiherpetic nucleoside analog ganciclovir, Ad-tk infection resulted in a massive reduction in the viability of these Tat-expressing cell lines. As adenoviruses are natural passengers of the human lymphoid system, our results suggest adenovirus vector-based strategies for the targeted expression, under the control of cis-responsive HIV regulatory elements, of cytotoxic agents in HIV-infected cells for the therapy of HIV-mediated pathogenesis.
