Development of herpes simplex virus replication-defective multigene vectors for combination gene therapy applications (original) (raw)

Transcriptional Targeting of Herpes Simplex Virus for Cell-Specific Replication

1997

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Promoter-independent activation of heterologous virus gene expression by the herpes simplex virus immediate-early protein ICP27

Virology, 1992

The herpes simplex virus (HSV) immediate-early protein ICP27 has been postulated to play an auxillary role in HSV gene expression, augmenting or inhibiting the activation of different viral promoters by the other immediate-early proteins ICPO and ICP4. Here we show that ICP27 alone can up-regulate gene expression of a retroviral vector containing Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMuLV) regulatory sequences. This is the first report of an effect of ICP27 on gene expression driven by heterologous virus regulatory sequences. The effect does not involve the region of ICP27 which inhibits gene activation of HSV early gene promoters by ICPO and ICP4, but rather is dependent on the same region of ICP27 as is required to augment the activation of HSV late gene promoters by ICPO and ICP4. This indicates that the two activation effects are likely to operate via the same mechanism. Activation by ICP27 is dependent on the 3 LTR and adjacent region of MoMuLV but is independent of the promoter in the 5' LTR which can be replaced by a heterologous promoter such as that of SV40 without affecting activation by ICP27. The significance of this effect for an understanding of the mechanism of action of ICP27 and its role in regulating the gene expression of HSV and potentially of other viruses is discussed.

Gene-specific transactivation by herpes simplex virus type 1 alpha protein ICP27

Journal of Virology, 1988

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) encodes several alpha (immediate-early) gene products that modulate gene expression during viral replication. We report here that the alpha protein ICP27 specifically stimulates expression of a later viral gene, that encoding glycoprotein B (gB). Using temperature-sensitive viral mutants, the effect of ICP27 on HSV-1 protein synthesis was examined at early times after infection or at later times when viral DNA replication was inhibited. Under these conditions, the expression of gB showed a marked dependence on the presence of functional ICP27, whereas several other beta and gamma 1 genes showed a lesser dependence. It was also noted that cells infected with ICP27 temperature sensitive mutants at the nonpermissive temperature showed a reduction in the electrophoretic mobility of the alpha protein ICP4. To examine the mechanism by which ICP27 stimulated gB expression, a plasmid was constructed in which the promoter-regulatory region of the gB gene w...

Efficient Activation of Viral Genomes by Levels of Herpes Simplex Virus ICP0 Insufficient To Affect Cellular Gene Expression or Cell Survival

Journal of Virology, 2001

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) ICP0 can effectively activate gene expression from otherwise silent promoters contained on persisting viral genomes. However, the expression of high levels of ICP0, as from ICP4 ؊ HSV type 1 (HSV-1) vectors, results in marked toxicity. We have analyzed the results of ICP0 expressed from an E1 ؊ E4 ؊ adenovirus vector (AdS.11E4ICP0) in which ICP0 expression is controlled from the endogenous adenoviral E4 promoter. In this system, the expression level of ICP0 was reduced more than 1,000-fold relative to the level of expression from HSV-1 vectors. This low level of ICP0 did not affect cellular division or greatly perturb cellular metabolism as assessed by gene expression array analysis comparing the effects of HSV and adenovirus vector strains. However, this amount of ICP0 was sufficient to quantitatively destroy ND10 structures as measured by promyelocytic leukemia immunofluorescence. The levels of adenovirus-expressed ICP0 were sufficient to activate quiescent viral genomes in trans and promote persistent transgene expression in cis. Moreover, infection of complementing cells with AdS.11E4ICP0 promoted viral growth and resulted in a 20-fold increase in the plaquing efficiency of d109, a virus defective for all five immediate-early genes. Thus, the low level expression of ICP0 from the E1 ؊ E4 ؊ adenovirus vector may increase the utility of adenovirus vectors and also provides a means to efficiently quantify and possibly propagate HSV vectors defective in ICP0. Importantly, the results demonstrate that the activation function of ICP0 may not result from changes in cellular gene expression, but possibly as a direct consequence of an enzymatic function inherent to the protein that may involve its action at ND10 resulting in the preferential activation of viral genomes.

Herpes simplex ICP27 mutant viruses exhibit reduced expression of specific DNA replication genes

Journal of virology, 1996

Herpes simplex virus type 1 mutants with certain lesions in the ICP27 gene show a 5- to 10-fold reduction in viral DNA synthesis. To determine how ICP27 promotes amplification of viral DNA, we examined the synthesis, accumulation, and stability of the essential viral replication proteins and steady-state levels of the replication gene transcripts throughout the course of ICP27 mutant virus infections. These studies reveal that in the absence of ICP27, expression of the UL5, UL8, UL52, UL9, UL42, and UL30 genes is significantly reduced at the level of mRNA accumulation. In contrast to that of these beta genes, ICP8 expression is unaltered in mutant virus-infected cells, indicating that ICP27 selectively stimulates only a subset of herpes simplex virus beta genes. Analysis of multiple ICP27 mutant viruses indicates a quantitative correlation between the ability of these mutants to replicate viral DNA and the level of replication proteins produced by each mutant. Therefore, we conclude...

Antiviral properties of a dominant negative mutant of the herpes simplex virus type 1 regulatory protein ICP0

Journal of General Virology, 1992

Dominant negative or trans-dominant mutants of viral proteins represent a new and exciting potential approach to antiviral therapy. Unfortunately, the extreme specificity of a given dominant negative mutant limits its general utility in treating a broad spectrum of viral diseases, since it can typically interfere with the activity of only a single viral polypeptide encoded by a single virus. However, it seems likely that dominant negative mutants of promiscuous viral trans-activator proteins, which by definition would repress rather than activate gene expression, should be able to inhibit infectious virus production for a number of different viruses. One such dominant negative mutant, derived from the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) regulatory protein ICP0, was found previously to behave as a powerful repressor of gene expression from an assortment of HSV-1 and non-HSV-1 promoters in transient expression assays. In the present study, this ICP0 mutant was found to be capable of inhibiting the replication of both HSV-1 and a completely unrelated virus, human immunodeficiency virus, in cell culture. The properties of this dominant negative mutant indicate that it may have potential as a means of treating diseases caused by a number of DNA and RNA viruses. Moreover, a truncated form of ICP0 which can hypothetically be created by alternative splicing was found to possess similar inhibitory capabilities, suggesting that a virusencoded version of this dominant negative mutant may play a role in down-regulating HSV-1 gene expression during infection in vivo.

Herpes Simplex Virus 1 ICP27 Is Required for Transcription of Two Viral Late (γ2) Genes in Infected Cells

Virology, 2001

The herpes simplex virus infected cell protein 27 (ICP27) is required for the expression of certain early viral proteins and for many late proteins during productive infection. Expression of at least one late (␥2) gene, that encoding glycoprotein C, is severely restricted in the absence of functional ICP27. The exact mode of action by which ICP27 induces late gene expression is not known, but the effect is apparent at the mRNA level as demonstrated by Northern blot analysis. To determine whether ICP27 activates late genes via transcriptional or posttranscriptional mechanisms, we initially used nuclear run-on assays to measure transcription of viral genes in Vero cells infected with wild-type (WT) virus or an ICP27 nonsense mutant virus, n504. We observed a 4-fold reduction in the nuclear run-on signal from the coding strand of the gC gene for n504-infected cells compared to that of WT-infected cells. However, interpretation of the results was complicated by the observation of a significant signal from the noncoding strand in these experiments. To obviate the problem of symmetrical transcription, we utilized in vivo RNA pulse-labeling to measure the amount of transcription of viral genes in cells infected with either WT virus or n504 virus. We found a 5-to 10-fold reduction in the transcription of the gC and U L 47 genes, two late genes, in cells infected with n504 compared to that in cells infected with WT virus. In contrast, transcription of the ICP8 gene, an early gene, was similar in WT and n504 virus-infected cells. We also examined the stability of the gC and U L 47 gene transcripts in n504-infected cells, and we found it to be comparable to that in WT virus-infected cells, further supporting an effect on transcription. Transcription of the gC and U L 47 genes by n504 was normal in a cell line that expresses WT ICP27. From these results we conclude that ICP27 is required for transcription of the late gC and U L 47 genes during productive infection.

The DNA sequence coding for the 5' untranslated region of herpes simplex virus type 1 ICP22 mRNA mediates a high level of gene expression

Journal of General Virology, 1994

The sequence coding for the 5' untranslated region (UTR) of ICP22 mRNA of herpes simplex virus type 1 has been tested for its ability to regulate gene expression. This sequence was placed in frame with the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) coding sequence and under the control of the simian virus 40 early promoter-enhancer. Under these conditions, the sequence coding for the 5'UTR led to an increase of about 13-fold in CAT activity, measured during transient expression. The use of mutants with progressive deletions within the sequence coding for the 5'UTR allowed localization of the sequence responsible for the enhancement of gene expression to the first exon of the ICP22 gene. Precise quantification of hybrid ICP22-CAT mRNA showed that the sequence coding for the 5'UTR induced an increase in the amounts of transcripts, which resulted in a parallel increase in CAT activity. This increase in the level of hybrid ICP22-CAT mRNA is not the result of an increase in mRNA stability, nor is it due to more efficient nucleo-cytoplasmic transport of the transcripts. Moreover, the distribution of hybrid mRNA in the different ribosomal populations indicates that the 5"UTR of ICP22 mRNA does not induce a preferential recruitment of the transcripts by the translational apparatus. Taken together, these results indicate that a cis-acting element located in the sequence coding for the 5'UTR oflCP22 mRNA can mediate a high level ofgene expression independently of the viral promoter and of viral trans-acting factors.

Codons 262 to 490 from the herpes simplex virus ICP4 gene are sufficient to encode a sequence-specific DNA binding protein

Nucleic Acids Research, 1990

The HSV-1 immediate early (IE) protein ICP4 («4, IE175, Vmw175) is an oligomeric molecule which activates transcription of viral early genes, represses transcription of viral IE genes, and binds to specific sequences in certain viral promoters. The extent to which these functions are interrelated has not been fully established. We have expressed truncated portions of the ICP4 gene in E. coli as trpE fusion proteins. DNA-binding studies with these hybrid proteins revealed that ICP4 residues 262 to 490 are sufficient for sequence-specific DNA-binding. DNAbinding was not detected with polypeptides extending from residue 262 to 464 or from residue 306 to 490. Multiple bands of protein-DNA complexes observed in gel mobility shift assays indicate that residues 262 to 490 may also contribute to the oligomerization of ICP4.

Genetic evidence for two distinct transactivation functions of the herpes simplex virus alpha protein ICP27

Journal of virology, 1990

Infected-cell protein 27 (ICP27) is a herpes simplex virus type 1 alpha, or immediate-early, protein involved in the regulation of viral gene expression. To better understand the function(s) of ICP27 in infected cells, we have isolated and characterized viral recombinants containing defined alterations in the ICP27 gene. The mutant virus d27-1 contains a 1.6-kilobase deletion which removes the ICP27 gene promoter and most of the coding sequences, while n59R, n263R, n406R, and n504R are mutants containing nonsense mutations which encode ICP27 molecules truncated at their carboxyl termini. All five mutants were defective for lytic replication in Vero cells. Analysis of the mutant phenotypes suggests that ICP27 has the following regulatory effects during the viral infection: (i) stimulation of expression of gamma-1 genes, (ii) induction of expression of gamma-2 genes, (iii) down regulation of expression of alpha and beta genes late in infection, and (iv) stimulation of viral DNA replic...