EXCHANGE OF VIRAL PROMOTER ENHANCER ELEMENTS WITH HETEROLOGOUS REGULATORY SEQUENCES GENERATES TARGETED HYBRID LONG TERMINAL REPEAT VECTORS FOR GENE-THERAPY OF MELANOMA/

To generate transcriptionally targeted vectors, tissue-specific elemen ts of the human tyrosinase promoter were exchanged with corresponding viral elements in the Moloney murine leukemia virus long terminal repe at (LTR). From these experiments, a vesicular stomatitis virus type G pseudotyped, hybrid LTR vector that contained three tyrosinase enhance r elements and gave high-level, tightly tissue-specific expression at high titers (3 x 10(7) CFU/ml) was constructed.