| abstract |
The invention provides materials and methods for modulating adenoviral tropism for hepatocytes and other cell types such as splenocytes. It relates to the findings that hypervariable regions (HVRs) of the viral hexon protein interact with the Gla domain of the blood clotting factor FX as part of the infective process in vivo. The invention provides means to disrupt the interaction between hexon and FX, thus reducing infection of hepatocytes and splenocytes, as well as use of targeting agents comprising the Gla domain or a fragment thereof to direct adenoviral vectors to desired target cell or tissue types. |