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AssigneeBoard of Regents of the University of Nebraska
InventorsSteven M. Tracy, Nora M. Chapman, Peter Kolbeck, James M. Malone, III
Estimating the term…
The present invention is drawn to the use of attenuated Coxsackievirus cardiotropic virus vectors as efficient gene transfer vectors to deliver immunomodulatory or other biologically active proteins and/or antigenic epitopes in transient infections to aid in preventing, ameliorating, and/or ablating infectious viral heart disease and reducing, or ablating entirely, heart transplant rejection. Additionally, other organs or tissues may be targeted with specific picornaviruses. In particular, an attenuated CVB3 viral vector able to express a cytokine is provided. This cytokine-expressing viral vector is able to deliver the cytokine to a target tissue and reduce disease symptoms.
A viral vector comprising a coxsackievirus genome modified to encode an attenuated coxsackievirus, said genome further comprising at least one cloning site for insertion of at least one expressible heterologous nucleic acid.
A bioengineered virus comprising a Coxsackievirus B3, wherein said coxsackievirus B3 is attenuated, and wherein a genome of said CVB3 contains a coding region for at least one heterologous gene.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.