
[Cancer Research 60, 1492-1497, March 15, 2000]
© 2000 American Association for Cancer Research
Fusogenic Membrane Glycoproteins As a Novel Class of Genes for the Local and Immune-mediated Control of Tumor Growth1
Andrew Bateman,
Francis Bullough,
Stephen Murphy,
Lisa Emiliusen,
Dimitri Lavillette,
François-Loic Cosset,
Roberto Cattaneo,
Stephen J. Russell and
Richard G. Vile2
Molecular Medicine Program, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55905 [A. B., S. M., L. E., R. C., S. J. R., R. G. V.]; Cambridge Genetics Limited, CB4 OF9 Cambridge, United Kingdom [F. B.]; and Vectorologie Retrovirale et Therapie Genique, INSERM U412Unite de Virologie Humaine Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon, 69364 Lyon Cedex 07, France [D. L., F-L. C.]
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ABSTRACT
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We report here the use of viral fusogenic membrane glycoproteins (FMGs)
as a new class of therapeutic genes for the control of tumor growth.
FMGs kill cells by fusing them into large multinucleated syncytia,
which die by sequestration of cell nuclei and subsequent nuclear fusion
by a mechanism that is nonapoptotic, as assessed by multiple criteria.
Direct and bystander killing of three different FMGs were at least one
log more potent than that of herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase or
cytosine deaminase suicide genes. Transduction of human tumor
xenografts with plasmid DNA prevented tumor outgrowth in
vivo, and cytotoxicity could be regulated through
transcriptional targeting. Syncytial formation is accompanied by the
induction of immunostimulatory heat shock proteins, and
tumor-associated FMG expression in immunocompetent animals generated
specific antitumor immunity.
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Introduction
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Ideally, the transfer of therapeutic genes into tumor cells should
lead both to direct local cell destruction and to activation of
antitumor immunity to clear tumor deposits to which the genes cannot be
delivered. The genes most commonly used in clinical trials for the
control of local tumor growth have been the suicide gene/prodrug
systems such as
HSVtk3
/GCV or cytosine deaminase/5-fluorocytosine system
(1)
. Importantly, these systems have local bystander
effects (1)
that are crucial to compensate for the
relatively poor efficiencies of gene transfer that are currently
possible (2)
. Other classes of genes have also been
effective via nonspecific immune activation and inflammatory killing
(3)
. In addition, gene transfer has been successful in
stimulating tumor cell-specific immune responses (4)
,
often through cross priming of host professional APCs with released
tumor antigens (5
, 6)
. In this respect, we have shown that
HSVtk-mediated tumor cell killing in vivo can generate
potent antitumor immunity (7)
, in part via induction of
heat shock protein expression, which both attracts APCs to the tumor
site and promotes their cross-priming with tumor antigens (8
, 9)
. However, both better delivery systems and more effective
genes are clearly still required to improve the efficiency of both
local tumor control and of antitumor immune responses. In this respect,
several different viruses kill their target cells by inducing fusion
between infected and noninfected cells via the interaction of the viral
envelope with its cellular receptor (10)
. Here we
report that this activity of viral FMG can be exploited therapeutically
to kill tumor cells more efficiently than conventional suicide genes
and that they do so by mechanisms that are also highly
immunostimulatory.
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Materials and Methods
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FMG and Suicide Gene Vectors.
All genes were subcloned into the pCR3.1 vector (Invitrogen) to be
expressed from the same CMV promoter. Transfections were carried out
using the Profection (calcium phosphate coprecipitation) method
(Promega, Madison, WI) or the Efectene lipid reagent (Qiagen).
Apoptosis Detection.
Cells were cultured in Labtek chamber slides (Nalge Nunc
International), plated at a density of 1 x 105/chamber, and transfected on day 0. Cells were
collected on days 14, washed with PBS, and fixed with 2%
paraformaldehyde. Then cells were washed and permeabilized with 0.1%
Triton X-100 in 0.1% sodium citrate. Next, the cells were washed,
incubated for 60 min with TUNEL reaction mixture (In situ
Cell Death Detection kit, fluorescein; Boehringer Mannheim), washed
again, air dried, and mounted with Vectashield (Vector
Laboratories) containing 2 µg/ml 4',6-diamidine-2'-phenylindole
dihydrochloride (Boehringer Mannheim).
hsp Detection Using RT-PCR.
RNA was prepared from transfected cells with RNAzol (Biogenesis,
Bournemouth, United Kingdom). RNA concentrations were measured, and 1
µg of total cellular RNA was reverse transcribed in a 20-µl volume
using oligo-(dT) as a primer and Moloney murine leukemia virus reverse
transcriptase (Pharmacia LKB Biotechnology, Milton Keynes, United
Kingdom). A cDNA equivalent of 1 ng of RNA was amplified by the PCR
using primers specific for inducible human hsp70, gp96, or
glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (details of primers available
on request). In all experiments, a mock PCR (without added DNA) was
performed to exclude contamination. To exclude carry-over of genomic
DNA during the RNA preparation step, controls were also carried out in
which the reverse transcriptase enzyme was omitted.
In Vivo Studies.
All procedures were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use
Committee at the Mayo Foundation and by the Imperial Cancer Research
Fund Animal Research Committee. To assess the efficacy of FMG
expression in human tumors, athymic nude mice were injected with
106 human tumor cells to establish s.c. tumors.
C57BL/6 mice were obtained from colonies bred at the Imperial Cancer
Research Fund. Murine colorectal CMT93 cells or melanoma B16 cells were
transfected with the PCR3-GALV or empty PCR3 plasmid. After 48 h,
the cells were placed in selection, Geneticin (Life Technologies,
Inc.), 1 mg/ml CMT93, and 5 mg/ml B16. A pooled population from each
tumor line was obtained after 2 weeks. Two x 106 CMT93-GALV or CMT93-neo or
105 B16-GALV or B16-neo cells were inoculated
s.c. into the flank region. Animals were examined daily, and the tumor
was excised once it reached a diameter of 1.0 x 1.0 cm.
At a time >14 days after primary excision, the mice were then
rechallenged with parental tumor cells (s.c. injection on the opposite
flank of 2 x 106 CMT93 or
105 B16). Animals were examined daily until tumor
became palpable and killed if the tumor size reached 1.0 x 1.0 cm. An individual mouse was considered tumor free if the
tumor was less than 0.3 x 0.3 cm.
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Results
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Cytotoxic Effects of FMGs and Comparison to Suicide Genes.
We tested the cytotoxic activity of the cDNAs of envelope genes from
three different classes of viruses: the rhabdoviral VSV-G
envelope gene (11)
, the combination of the F
and H genes from measles virus (12)
, and a
hyperfusogenic version of the retroviral GALV in which the
COOH-terminal R peptide sequence of the cytoplasmic domain of the
envelope had been deleted.4
In transient transfections, the cytotoxicity of all three FMGs was
superior to that of either the HSVtk or CD suicide genes when cells
were plated at either low or high plating density, although
cytotoxicity was greatest at high plating densities (Fig. 1A)
. GALV or the F and H
combination was consistently the most potent gene (Fig. 1B)
when tested with HSVtk or CD in 10 human tumor lines/explants: Tel.CeB6
(human rhabdomyosarcoma) and HT1080 (human fibrosarcomas), 293, Mel624
(human melanoma), HeLa (cervical carcinoma), as well as in two freshly
resected human colorectal and three freshly resected human melanoma
explants (data not shown), confirming that the relative efficacies are
not attributable to the selective choice of cell lines. The efficacy of
VSV-G transfection approached that of either GALV or F+H when the
ambient pH was reduced to <6.0 (data not shown). Moreover,
transfections of GALV cDNA into cells blocked in S phase of the cell
cycle using the drug aphidicolin showed that cytotoxicity is
independent of the cell cycle (Fig. 1C)
.

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Fig. 1. Expression of FMG cDNAs is highly cytotoxic in susceptible
cell lines in a density-dependent fashion and has a bystander killing
effect at least one log greater than HSVtk. A, 293 cells
plated at a high seeding density (50,000 cells/well) were transfected
with 5 µg of plasmid DNA (HSVtk, CD, F alone, or H alone) or
cotransfected with 2.5 µg of F with 2.5 µg of H. Cells transfected
with HSVtk or CD were incubated 24 h later in ganciclovir (5
µg/ml) or 5-fluorocytosine (3 µM). Surviving
cell counts were determined using trypan blue exclusion cell counting
or by lactate dehydrogenase release assays 5 days after transfection.
Transfections with 5 µg of a control CMV-ß-gal plasmid showed a
mean transfection efficiency of about 7%. Bars,
SD. B, comparison of cytotoxicity of three FMGs
with HSVtk at high plating density. 293 cells were transfected as in
A with HSVtk, F and H together (F+H),
GALV, or VSV-G. The results reported in A and
B are representative of at least three separate
experiments in each case. Bars, SD. C,
arresting cells in S phase does not affect the efficiency of cell
killing by FMG. Cells were preincubated in normal medium or medium
containing 5 µg/ml of aphidicolin (Aphid) to block DNA
synthesis. Twenty-four h later, the cells were transfected, in
triplicates, with 5 µg of plasmid encoding GALV, no DNA, or GALV-EGF.
GALV-EGF contains the EGF ligand NH2-terminally displayed
on the fusogenic GALV protein, leading to >90% inhibition of its
fusogenic capacity.4
Bars, SD. D, 293-ß-Gal cells were
plated in triplicates in 96-well plates at a density of 105
cells/well. Twenty-four h later, increasing numbers of GALV-transfected
(upper row of triplicates) or HSVtk-transfected
(lower row) 293 cells were added to the wells. The
number of transfected cells was estimated using transfection of
parental 293 cells with CMV-ß-Gal 24 h previously. From
left to right, the number of cells added
per triplicate set of wells was 0, 1, 10, 100, 103,
104, and 105. Both FMG- and HSVtk-transfected
wells were treated with GCV. Five days later, wells were washed and
stained for ß-galactosidase as a measure of surviving cells. The data
shown are representative of three similar experiments.
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To compare directly the relative efficacies of the bystander effects of
the FMG and the HSVtk suicide gene, Fig. 1D
shows that in
excess of 104 HSVtk-transfected cells had to be
added to wells containing 105 293-ß-Gal cells
to come close to complete killing of the target population. In
contrast, at least 1 log fewer GALV-transfected 293 cells were
sufficient to eradicate completely the target population. Over several
different experiments, we calculated that a single HSVtk-transfected
cell would kill approximately 810 bystander cells at most under these
particular conditions. However, a single GALV-expressing cell would
kill, on average, in excess of 150200 bystander cells. Similar data
were obtained using the HT1080 and Mel624 cell lines, confirming that
these effects are not specific to individual cell lines.
FMG Cytotoxicity Occurs Through Nonapoptotic Mechanisms.
Transfection with GALV induces the formation of multinucleated syncytia
bounded by a single cellular membrane encompassing nuclei that
individually still retain clearly defined nuclear membranes (Fig. 2A)
. Recruitment of bystander cells into the syncytium
proceeds via a process that appears to involve streaming of the
incoming nuclei along thick, organized microtubule bundles that feed
into the perinuclear region such that large numbers of nuclei become
localized in close juxtaposition (Fig. 2B)
. These structures
can remain stable and metabolically and transcriptionally active for
several days. At later time points, individual nuclei within the
syncytia lose their nuclear membranes and release their chromosomes
(Fig. 2D)
. The end result of the process, at
least in vitro, is the disintegration of the syncytium with
concomitant release of DNA (Fig. 2E)
.

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Fig. 2. Syncytial formation proceeds through nuclear accumulation
and fusion. Cells transfected with 5 µg of GALV plasmid DNA were
followed by confocal microscopy for up to 120 h. Cells were
stained with 4',6-diamidine-2'-phenylindole dihydrochloride to
visualize the nuclei (blue/violet, AC).
A, a typical syncytium formed 24 h after
transfection with GALV cDNA. The cellular membrane bounding the
syncytium is shown as red staining (DII). B,
transfected cells were stained with the DM1A antibody (Sigma), which
recognizes -tubulin as part of the cellular cytoskeleton. A single
syncytium is shown 24 h after transfection. Incoming nuclei from
newly fused cells can be seen being recruited at the periphery and
being shuttled toward the accumulated nuclear concentration from
previous fusions (top right). C, a
syncytium at 48 h after transfection stained for apoptosis by the
TUNEL assay (Boehringer Mannheim). Apoptotic nuclei appear as
green staining at the periphery of the syncytium, but no
positive staining was observed in the nuclei within syncytia.
D and E, at late stages of syncytial
formation, individual nuclei break down releasing chromosomes
(D) until finally all nuclear structure
is lost, leaving only chromosomes and interphase DNA
(E).
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At no stage of the sequence of syncytium development do nuclei stain
positive for apoptosis by TUNEL analysis, although apoptotic cells or
debris was occasionally observed at the periphery of well-developed
syncytia (Fig. 2C)
. DNA ladders and electron microscopy also
failed to indicate significant levels of apoptotic cell death in
FMG-transfected as opposed to mock-transfected cultures (data not
shown). Importantly, FMG-mediated tumor cell killing was not inhibited
by the addition of caspase inhibitors, such as ZVAD, indicating that
the mechanism of cell killing is not apoptotic (data not shown). We are
currently investigating the dependence for killing on genes such as
p53, p21, and other cell cycle controlling elements. This
pattern of nonapoptotic cell killing has also been confirmed using the
F+H combination and different cell lines (data not shown). The
observation of interphase DNA and condensed chromosomes within syncytia
(Fig. 2)
suggest that a process similar to premature chromosome
condensation may be occurring in which fusion of dividing cells occurs
with nondividing cells and eventually precipitates a mitosis-like state
in the syncytium but from which other mitotic events cannot occur
(13)
, probably because the multiple nuclei can no longer
organize an effective mitotic
spindle.5
Established Tumors Can Be Eradicated by Transduction with Plasmid
DNA Encoding FMG cDNA.
Human tumor xenografts of HT1080 or Mel624 cells were injected s.c.
into nude athymic mice at a dose of 106 tumor
cells/mouse. At this dose, 90100% of mice develop small, palpable
tumors by 72 h after tumor cell seeding. Tumors were transfected
with 10 µg of plasmid DNA complexed with Efectene lipid (Qiagen). The
subsequent development of tumor growth was then measured with time as
shown in Fig. 3
. Both HT1080 fibrosarcoma and Mel624 melanoma tumors
transduced with the CMV-ß-Gal construct grew progressively in both
tumor types (Fig. 3)
. In contrast, the CMV-GALV
cDNA eradicated tumor growth in 100% of HT1080 and 90% of Mel624
tumor-bearing mice (Fig. 3C and D)
, despite the initial progression of the tumors
after DNA transduction (Fig. 3A)
.
Tumor-free mice in Fig. 3C and D
, were scored
as having no palpable tumor mass by day 90 after initial tumor cell
seeding; in addition, no outgrowths of tumor were observed in any of
these mice over this period of 90 days. The in vivo delivery
of the HSVtk gene, followed by treatment with GCV, was never
capable of achieving similar levels of tumor killing (data not shown),
even in immunocompetent models where the immune system boosts the
antitumor efficacy of this treatment (14
, 15) . In
subsequent experiments, we observed extensive syncytia in tumors
recovered from mice that had received injections 48 h previously
with FMG vector. No syncytia were observed from tumors injected with
ß-Gal vector or PBS. In addition, RT-PCR studies from these tumors
also showed the expression of hsps, molecules that are also associated
with the fusion process (see below and Fig. 4
). These observations strongly suggest that the in
vivo mechanism of cell killing is the same as that seen in
vitro. When tumors greater than 0.20.3 cm in diameter were
injected with plasmid DNA, we were unable to obtain complete
regressions of tumors with the same efficiency as seen in Fig. 3
.
However, ongoing experiments with vectors of higher efficiency than
plasmid DNA demonstrate that viral vectors are capable of eradicating
larger established
tumors.6

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Fig. 3. Plasmid delivery of FMG cDNA can eliminate primary tumor
growth, and toxicity can be controlled using a tissue-specific
promoter. HT1080 (human fibrosarcoma) or Mel624 (human melanoma) tumors
were seeded s.c. in nude mice and were transduced in
situ with 10 µg/tumor of CMV-ß-Gal, CMV-GALV, or TYR-GALV
plasmid DNA complexed with Efectene lipid (Qiagen; 10 mice/group).
A, 7 days after DNA injection of HT1080 tumors, those
injected with CMV-GALV plasmid began to regress compared with the
progression of tumors in the other two groups. B, 13
days after transduction, some tumors reached 1.2 cm in the longest
diameter, at which point those animals were sacrificed. The tumors in
the CMV-GALV-injected group had all regressed and had been eliminated.
C, by day 90 after transduction, nearly all mice in the
CMV-ß-Gal and TYR-GALV groups developed tumors that reached 1.2 cm.
Long-term tumor-free mice had no detectable tumor by the end of the
experiment. D, progression of transduced human melanoma
tumors, Mel624, was similar to that shown for the HT1080 tumors
(AC). By day 90 after transduction, both 90% of the
tumors transduced with CMV-GALV; 100% of the tumors transduced with
TYR-GALV had been eliminated, and no regrowths were observed.
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Fig. 4. Expression of GALV induces hsp expression in human tumor
cells and in murine tumor cells acts as an effective immunogen against
parental tumor cell rechallenge. A, RT-PCR from TelCeB6
cells transfected with 5 µg of GALV plasmid, 24 h after
transfection. Lane 1, HindIII
molecular weight markers; Lane 2, cDNA from TelCeB6
cells transfected with a nonfusogenic GALV-EGF plasmid using primers
for inducible human hsp70; Lane 3, cDNA from TelCeB6
cells transfected with the GALV plasmid using primers for inducible
human hsp70; Lanes 4 and 5 as for
Lanes 2 and 3 using primers for human
gp96; Lanes 6 and 7 as for Lanes
2 and 3 using primers for human
glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase as a positive control for RNA
loading. Although hsp70 is not expressed in parental cells, gp96 has a
basal level of expression that was not increased by transfection with
the nonfusogenic GALV-EGF but was up-regulated by fusogenic GALV.
B, murine colorectal CMT93 cells were transfected either
with the pCR3-GALV plasmid or with the parental pCR3 plasmid lacking
the GALV insert. Pooled populations of G418r cells were cloned. C57/BL
mice were vaccinated with 2 x 106
CMT93-GALV or the same number of parental CMT93-neo, live tumor cells
(injected s.c. into the flank). Both groups were rechallenged with
2 x 106 CMT93 parental cells on the
opposite flank at least 2 weeks after the vaccination. Growth of the
rechallenge was measured with time ( , mice vaccinated with CMT93-neo
tumor cells; , mice vaccinated with CMT93-GALV cells; 10
mice/group), and a tumor-free animal was scored if the tumor was less
than 0.3 x 0.3 cm, this being the tumor size beyond
which failure to develop tumor represents a genuine response to
treatment in this model.
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To address the issue of tumor specificity, we also constructed an
expression vector in which the GALV cDNA is expressed from the human
tyrosinase promoter, which we (16)
and others
(17)
have previously shown confers tissue-specific
expression to melanoma cells. Using a 300-bp sequence from this
promoter as the core element (17)
, HT1080 and Mel624
tumors were also transduced in vivo with the TYR-GALV
plasmid (10
µg/tumor).7
HT1080 tumors continued to grow progressively after transduction with
the TYR-GALV DNA (Fig. 3A
, Fig. 3B
, Fig. 3C
). In
contrast, Mel624 tumors were eradicated in 100% of the mice that
received injections (Fig. 3D)
,
indicating that transcriptional control of expression is an effective
means of targeting FMG-mediated gene therapy to specific tumor types.
FMG Gene Expression Is Associated with Increased Expression of
Immunostimulatory Signals and Acts as a Potent Immunogen.
The mechanisms by which tumor cells are killed influence the
potency of the subsequent immune response to nontransduced tumors
elsewhere in the animal (7
, 8
, 18)
. Fig. 4
shows that FMG
transfection is associated with induction of mRNA of two different heat
shock proteins, hsp70 and gp96, both of which are known to play
important roles in enhancing tumor immunogenicity (8
, 19)
.
Transfection of a nonfusogenic GALV-EGF cDNA did not induce either hsp
over levels seen in resting cells (Fig. 4)
. These RT-PCR results were
confirmed in three different cell lines (Tel.CeB6, HT1080, and Mel624)
and by immunofluorescence (data not shown). In addition, the expression
of viral FMGs would be expected to be highly immunogenic per
se (that is separate from any effects of syncytial induction and
hsp expression), which may itself promote generation of tumor-specific
immunity, through cross-priming of APCs with tumor antigens. Murine
cell lines are not fused by GALV as the murine homologue of the Pit-1
receptor is not recognized by GALV. Therefore, murine colorectal CMT93
(20)
and melanoma B16 tumor cell lines were transfected
with the GALV gene and transfected cells were used as live
vaccine cells in syngeneic C57/BL mice. Both CMT93-GALV and B16-GALV
tumors grew as primary tumors but at a reduced rate compared with the
parental G418r CMT93-neo and B16-neo controls (data not shown).
However, after surgery, animals vaccinated with GALV-expressing cells
were significantly protected against rechallenge with parental,
unmodified cells compared with animals vaccinated with parental cells
transfected with neo alone (Fig. 4)
. Similar results were obtained with
the B16 murine melanoma line (data not shown). These data confirm that
expression of FMG in tumor cells can serve as a potent
immunostimulatory signal that generates in vivo protection
against unmodified parental tumor.
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Discussion
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Our data show that FMG transfection is a much more effective
treatment for killing human tumor lines in vitro than
commonly used suicide genes. Killing is cell density dependent,
independent of cell division, and does not require administration of a
prodrug, thereby alleviating the problems of drug delivery and
bioavailability. In addition, the local bystander effect of FMG killing
is generally at least a log higher than that of HSVtk. Direct delivery
of plasmid DNA encoding the GALV FMG to actively growing tumors
in vivo is sufficient to eradicate tumor progression and
growth, despite the relatively low efficiency of gene transfer.
Syncytial-mediated cell killing occurs by nonapoptotic mechanisms,
through a process of nuclear recruitment, fusion, and disintegration
and is associated with induction of hsps that should prove to be highly
immune stimulatory in vivo (8
, 18)
. In
addition, expression of FMG is highly immunogenic per se (in
the absence of syncytial induction), adding to the potency of the FMG
as a mechanism for inducing antitumor immunization. Because neither
GALV nor F+H fuse murine cells, we cannot yet assess fully the added
contribution of syncytial induction to immune stimulation in an
immunocompetent model. However, we are currently generating murine
tumor lines and mice transgenic for the GALV receptor Pit-1 to address
both these issues, as well as that of FMG-mediated toxicity to tissues
surrounding targeted tumors. We have shown here that transcriptional
targeting of FMG expression is possible to reduce toxicity, and we are
currently developing molecular switches to ensure that FMG expression
is extinguished when normal cells are recruited into the syncytia.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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We thank A. Fielding, J. Salisbury, and R. B. Jenkins for
helpful discussions, Suzanne Marie Facteau and Jill Ludvigson for
animal care, and Toni Higgins for expert secretarial assistance.
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FOOTNOTES
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The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
1 Supported by the Imperial Cancer Research Fund,
London (to A. B., S. M, and R. V.), and the Mayo Foundation (to
A. B., S. M., R. C., S. R., and R. V.). 
2 To whom requests for reprints should be
addressed at, Molecular Medicine Program, Guggenheim 18, Mayo Clinic,
200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905. Phone: (507) 284-9941; Fax:
(507) 266-2122; E-mail: vile.richard{at}mayo.edu 
3 The abbreviations used are: HSV/tk, herpes
simplex virus thymidine kinase; GCV, ganciclovir; CD, cytosine
deaminase; APC, antigen-presenting cell; FMG, fusogenic membrane
glycoprotein; GALV, Gibbon ape leukemia virus; CMV, cytomegalovirus;
TUNEL, terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated nick end labeling;
hsp, heat shock protein; ß-Gal, ß-galactosidase; RT-PCR, reverse
transcription-PCR. 
4 A. K. Fiedling, S. Chapel-Fernandez, M. P.
Chadwick, F. I. Bullough, F-L. Cosset, and S. J. Russell. A
hyperfusogenic Gibbon ape leukemia envelope glycoprotein: targeting of
a cytotoxic gene by ligand display, submitted for publication. 
5 A. R. Bateman, K. S. Harrington, and R. G. Vile.
Fusogenic membrane glycoproteins: investigation of the mechanism of
syncitial formation and cytotoxicity, manuscript in preparation. 
6 R. M. Diaz, A. R. Bateman, L. Emiliusen, D.
Trono, S. J. Russell, and R. G. Vile. A lentiviral vector expressing a
fusogenic glycoprotein for cancer gene therapy, manuscript in
preparation. 
7 Details of the expression vector are available
on request. 
Received 11/10/99.
Accepted 1/31/00.
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