Development of Vaccinia Virus as an Expression Vector

基因表达的细胞质位置和病毒编码酶的使用是痘苗病毒和其他痘病毒载体的不同特征，这有助于它们一致地表达来自各种原核、真核和病毒来源的基因。这一特点，加上它们能够稳定整合和包装大量额外的DNA，以及广泛的宿主范围，使它们成为一种研究工具，并在哺乳动物细胞中合成重组蛋白。重组牛痘病毒也正在作为活疫苗进行测试。在过去的一年里，我们继续在实验室评估高度减毒的改良痘苗病毒安卡拉株(Mva)作为一种安全的载体，以及作为预防传染病和癌症的候选疫苗的载体。

The cytoplasmic site of gene expression and use of virally encoded enzymes are distinguishing features of vaccinia virus and other poxvirus vectors that contribute to their consistent ability to express genes derived from a variety of prokaryotic, eukaryotic and viral sources. This feature, together with their ability to stably integrate and package large amounts of additional DNA, and broad host range, account for their general use as a research tool and for synthesis of recombinant proteins in mammalian cells. Recombinant vaccinia viruses are also being tested as live vaccines. During the past year, we continued to evaluate the highly attenuated modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) strain as a safe vector in the laboratory and as a vector for candidate vaccines against infectious diseases and cancers