Re infectivity of naked viral DNA

[Ian A. York]

In article <Pine.SOL.3.91.950522133033.12083A-100000 at corona> Patrick O'Neil <patrick at corona> writes:
>
>inoculation.  The original post on this SEEMED to imply that injection 
>(to my readin eyes this meant intraveneous) of said nucleic acids was all 
>that was required.  I objected to this idea...intepreted as I just 

Patrick, for an example of viral infection induced by injecting naked 
(cloned) DNA intramuscularly, see:  
Pelletier, E., W. Saurin, R. Cheynier,N.L. Letvin,S. Wain-Hobson
The tempo and mode of SIV quasispecies development in vivo calls for 
massive viral replication and clearance.
Virology 208:644-652 (1995)

and references therein.  

For examples of immune responses to intramuscular injections of naked 
DNA, see the review:
Donnelly JJ.  Ulmer JB.  Liu MA.
Immunization with DNA.
J Immunol Methods.  176(2):145-52, 1994

and references therein.  

A slightly different approach involved injection of DNA complexed in 
lipsomes, intravenously or by other means.  This has also been successful 
in inducing gene expression:

Zhu N.  Liggitt D.  Liu Y.  Debs R.
Systemic gene expression after intravenous DNA delivery into adult mice.
Science.  261(5118):209-11, 1993

Nabel GJ.  Nabel EG.  Yang ZY.  Fox BA.  Plautz GE.  Gao X.  Huang L.  
Shu S.  Gordon D.  Chang AE.
Direct gene transfer with DNA-liposome complexes in melanoma: 
expression, biologic activity, and lack of toxicity in humans.
 Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.  90(23):11307-11, 1993

The naked DNA injections, in particular, are really surprising; but they 
do work.  

Ian
-- 
Ian York   (york at mbcrr.harvard.edu)
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 44 Binney St., Boston MA 02115
Phone (617)-632-3921     Fax  (617)-632-2627