BACKGROUND Monocyte-derived macrophages contribute to atherosclerotic plaque formation. Therefore, manipulating macrophage function could have significant therapeutic value. The objective of this study was to determine transduction efficiency of two HIV-based lentiviral vector configurations as delivery systems for the transduction of primary human blood monocyte-derived macrophages. RESULTS ...

A number of lentiviral vector systems have been developed for gene delivery and therapy by eliminating and/or modifying viral genetic elements. However, all lentiviral vector systems derived from HIV-1 must have a viral packaging signal sequence, Psi (Ψ), which is placed downstream of 5' long terminal repeat in a transgene plasmid to effectively package and deliver transgene mRNA. In this study...

Previous studies have shown that the locus control region (LCR) and the promoter of the growth hormone (GH) gene can control the expression of GH. Therefore, lenti- and retro-viral vectors with these elements might be useful to monitor the activation of the GH gene and the development of newborn somatotrophs. To test this, we first constructed a lentiviral vector, which expresses green fluoresc...

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a mosquito-borne alphavirus that causes chikungunya fever in Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Because the mosquito vector Aedes albopictus is present in habitats across Europe, North America, and East Asia, CHIKV has become a serious worldwide public health concern. Infection with CHIKV typically causes fever, rash, myalgia, and arthralgia. One of the importa...

Suppressor of cytokine signaling-1 (SOCS1) is a protein that negatively regulates cytokine and growth factor signaling. However, little is known regarding the precise role it plays in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The aim of the present study was to construct a recombinant lentiviral vector for RNA interference targeting the SOCS1 gene and to detect the expression in human alveolar epithelial ...

AIM To investigate its effect on the proliferation and invasion of laryngeal carcinoma and understand the potential underlying mechanisms to provide new targets for the diagnosis and treatment of recurrent laryngeal cancer metastasis. METHODS We constructed a lentiviral vector expressing EGFL7 specific shRNA, and introduced it in EGFL7 functions were attenuated by a lentiviral vector harborin...

The Cre recombinase (Cre) from bacteriophage P1 is an important tool for genetic engineering in mammalian cells. We constructed lentiviral vectors that efficiently deliver Cre in vitro and in vivo. Surprisingly, we found a significant reduction in proliferation and an accumulation in the G(2)/M phase of Cre-expressing cells. To minimize the toxic effect of Cre, we designed a lentiviral vector t...