| abstract |
An adenoviral helper viruses system is disclosed that is capable of expressing up to 36 kB of heterologous DNA in a replication defective adenoviral vector. The system comprises adenoviral vector constructs, one or more helper viruses and a helper cell line. The vector construct is capable of being replicated and packaged into a virion particle in the helper cell when coinfected with a helper virus that contains a defective packaging signal. In particular, the helper cell expresses DNA from one or more of the 'early' codings regions of the adenovirus 5 genome (Ad5) and one or more helper viruses express DNA from one or more of the 'early' coding regions and all of the later coding regions of the Ad5 genome, complementing mutations in the corresponding regions of the vector. Also disclosed are methods of transferring heterologous DNA-containing vectors into mammalian cells. |