Increased functional expression of transgene in primary human lymphocytes using retroviral vectors modified with IRES and splicing motifs

Abstract

Genetic modification of human lymphocytes is being employed in strategies to correct enzyme deficiencies, encode cytokines and to redirect lymphocytes to antigenic targets other than those encoded by their endogenous T cell receptor. However, expression of transgenes in primary lymphocytes is generally low. Reasoning that vector modification may lead to increased transgene expression and subsequent increases in function, we have performed two retroviral vector modifications and report their effect on the functional expression in primary lymphocytes. A chimeric receptor specific for the colon carcinoma-associated antigen, EGP40, was initially incorporated into the retroviral vector LXSN. In t..