Reconstituted virus-like particles as delivery systems for self-amplifying RNA genes for cancer detection and therapy

Global Medical Microbiology Summit & Expo

November 28-29, 2016 San Francisco, USA

William M Gelbart

University of California Los Angeles, USA

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Med Microb Diagn

Abstract :

In this talk I describe our synthesis of perfectly mono disperse 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 noninfectious, 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.

Biography :

Email: gelbart@chem.ucla.edu