Special Issue "Novel Viral Vector Systems for Gene Therapy"

Guest Editor
Dr. Daniel Stone
Quantitative Biosciences Institute, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
E-Mail:
Interests: Development of novel viral vector systems for gene therapy; Events that initiate innate immunity and toxicity following virus exposure; Mechanisms that facilitate virus attachment, entry, replication and pathogenesis

Submission Information

All papers should be submitted to viruses@mdpi.org. To be published continuously until the deadline and papers will be listed together at the special issue website.

Submitted papers should not have been published nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere. All papers are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Viruses is a new international, peer-reviewed, quarterly open access journal published by Molecular Diversity Preservation International.

Article Processing Charges (APC) for publication in this Open Access journal are waived for well-prepared manuscripts submitted by 30 June 2010. English correction and/or formatting fees of 250 CHF (Swiss Francs) will be charged in certain cases for those articles accepted for publication that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections.

• Foamy virus
• Adenovirus
• Adeno-associated virus
• Alpha virus
• Lentivirus
• Oncolytic viral vectors
• Cardiovascular gene therapy
• Musculoskeletal gene therapy

Title: Foamy virus vectors for hematopoietic gene transfer
Type of Paper: Review
Author: Robert Richard
Affiliation: VA Puget Sound Health Care System, S-111-Onc, 1660 S. Columbian Way, Seattle, WA 98108, USA; E-mail: rrichard@u.washington.edu

Title: Non-integrative lentiviral vectors for gene therapy
Type of Paper: Review
Authors: Ravet E.¹, Gross F.², Tirabi G.¹, Buscail L. ^2,3,4 and Pierre Cordelier ⁴
Affiliation: ¹ Invivogen Company,Toulouse, France; ² CIC Biothérapie, CHU Rangueil, Toulouse, France; ³ Service de Gastr-Entérologie et de Nutrition, CHU Toulouse, France; ⁴ INSERM U858, Toulouse, France
Abstract: HIV-derived lentiviral vectors provide efficient gene transfer in proliferative and quiescent cells and demonstrate stable, high-level transgene expression both in vitro and in vivo. The genome of HIV non specifically integrates into the human genome, with a preference for active genes. However, integration can be problematic because a variation in gene expression between cells, possible gene silencing, and most importantly insertional mutagenesis, which can lead to undesirable effects such as malignant transformation. These findings clearly demonstrate the need to find means to prevent deleterious effects of integration of lentiviral vectors. This review will summarize and discuss the different approaches used to achieve efficient transduction using non integrative lentiviral vectors, and the potential application to gene therapy.

Manuscript ID: Viruses-ViralVec-20090331-uk-Yuan
Title: Safety consideration of viral vectors for gene therapy
Type of Paper: Review
Authors: Yuan Zhao and Robin Thorpe
Affiliation: NIBSC, UK Health Protection Agency, South Mimms, Herts, UK
Abstract: Over the last twenty years, gene therapy has been under significant development with more than 1000 clinical trials undertaken using viral vectors. This article will review broad clinical experiences with viral vectors, e.g. integrating vectors, Adenoviral vectors and Adeno-associated viral vectors, and the observed safety issues associated with individual vector designs and applications. Current measures and regulatory requirements to achieve the safest application of individual viral vectors will be evaluated. A discussion on the safety consideration in future development of viral vectors will be presented.

Title: The next generation of recombinant AAV vectors
Type of paper: Review
Author: Arun Srivastava
Affiliation: UF Pediatrics - Division of Cellular & Molecular Therapy, Cancer & Genetics research Complex, Gainesville, FL 32610-3633, USA