Expression and processing of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 gp160 using the vesicular stomatitis virus New Jersey serotype vector system

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Siebens-Drake Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6G 2V4, Canada Correspondence C. Yong Kang cykang{at}uwo.ca The Indiana serotype of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV IND ), but not the New Jersey serotype (VSV NJ ), has been widely used as a gene expression vector. In terms of prime–boost-based vaccine strategies, it would be desirable to use two different VSV serotypes to avoid immunity against the priming viral vector. Here, we report that we have applied the VSV NJ vector system for expression of the env gene of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). The HIV-1 env gene was inserted into the VSV NJ vector system at two different sites: between the P and M genes (NP-gp160-MGL) and between the G and L genes (NPMG-gp160-L). The HIV-1 env gene product, gp160, was efficiently expressed and processed in cells infected with either of these two recombinant VSV–HIV-1 gp160 viruses. In this study, we have investigated the applicability of the VSV NJ vector system for foreign gene expression. Additional methods are available with the online version of this paper.