Design, development, and evaluation of gene therapeutics specific to KSHV-associated diseases.

ABSTRACT: Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the causative agent of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) and two human lymphoproliferative diseases: primary effusion lymphoma and AIDS-related multicentric Castleman's disease. KSHV-encoded latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA) is expressed in KSHV-infected cancer cells and is responsible for maintaining viral genomes in infected cells. Thus, LANA is an attractive target for therapeutic intervention for KSHV-associated diseases. Here, we devised a cancer gene therapy vector using the adeno-associated virus (AAV), which capitalizes the LANA's function to maintain terminal repeat (TR) containing circular genome in latently infected cells and the TR's enhancer function for KSHV inducible gene promoters. By including two TR copies with a lytic inducib

SUBMITTER: Inagaki T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11870588 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature