CHIMERIC VSV-G PROTEINS AS NUCLEIC ACID TRANSFER VEHICLES

Abstract

The design and generation of a number of chimeric VSV-G (or VSV-G variants) proteins are used as transfer vehicles to enhance delivery of nucleic acids like plasmid DNA, single and double stranded DNA and RNA, and antisense oligonucleotides into human and animal cells. These chimeric VSV-G protein-nucleic acid transfer vehicles have widespread applications to deliver nucleic acids for exon skipping and gene delivery for gene replacement in human and animals.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent No. 61/984,290, filed Apr. 25, 2014, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

What is disclosed is a chimeric or fusion protein including a membrane transport domain and a nucleic acid binding domain allowing targeted delivery of nucleic acids in humans and animals for the treatment of medical conditions.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

The vesicular stomatitis virus G glycoprotein (hereinafter referred to as “VSV-G”) is widely used to pseudotype viral vectors due to its wide tropism and stability. These viral vectors facilitate gene transduction in human and animals. The VSV-G proteins, when not associated with any viral vectors, are also alone capable of forming complexes with naked plasmid DNA in cell free conditions which can be transfected to cells thereafter.

The fusogenic G glycoprotein of the vesicular stomatitis virus has proved to be a useful tool for viral-mediated gene delivery by acting as an envelope protein. Due to its wide tropism, VSV-G has been used as an efficient surrogate envelope protein to produce more stable and high titer pseudotyped murine leukemia virus (MLV)-based retrovirus and lentivirus-based vectors, all of which have been effectively used for gene therapy. The reason behind this pantropism of VSV remained elusive for a long period. Recently, it has been found that the VSV enters the cell through a highly ubiquitous low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor having wide distribution.

However, there are some limitations associated with the use of VSV-G. It is cytotoxic to producer cells, though the use of tetracycline-regulated promoters has helped to overcome this problem. In addition, serum inactivation of VSV-G pseudotyped viruses poses a problem and impedes their function to some extent in vivo. To overcome the latter problem, VSV-G mutants have been generated which are more thermostable as well as serum-resistant. VSV-G mutants harboring T230N+T368A or K66T+S162T+T230N+T368A mutations exhibited more resistance to serum inactivation and higher thermostability.

Apart from acting as a fusogenic envelope protein for many viral vectors, previous studies showed that purified soluble VSV-G itself can be inserted into lipid bilayers of liposomes and lipid vesicles in cell free system in vitro. Additionally, it has been shown that VSV-G can form a complex with naked plasmid DNA in the absence of any transfection reagent and can thereby enhance the transfection of naked plasmid DNA into cells. Sucrose gradient sedimentation analysis demonstrated that VSV-G associates with plasmid DNA and MLV gag-pol particles to form ternary complexes that co-sediment with high DNA transfecting activity. This transfection could be abolished by adding antibody for VSV-G.

In eukaryotic cells, heritable genetic material is packaged into structures known as chromatin consisting of DNA and protein. The basic repeating unit of chromatin is the nucleosome core, which consists of 147 base pairs of DNA wrapped in 1.7 left-handed superhelical turns around the surface of an octameric protein core formed by two molecules each of histones H2A, H2B, H3, and H4. Histones are highly basic proteins that bind very avidly and non-specifically to nucleic acids. Histones were among the first proteins studied due to their relative ease of isolation and all four histone proteins (H2A, H2B, H3, and H4) can be expressed in bacteria. This has allowed purifying and reconstituting of the histone proteins in cell free systems using well defined protocols. Though the native histone proteins undergo an extensive array of posttranslational modifications, recombinant histones do not undergo posttranslational modifications and can be obtained in a highly pure form due to their high expression levels.

Single Strand DNA-Binding Proteins (hereinafter referred to as “SSBP”) are ubiquitously expressed and involved in a variety of DNA metabolic processes including replication, recombination, damage, and repair. SSBP-1 is a housekeeping gene involved in mitochondrial biogenesis. It is also a subunit of a single-stranded DNA (ssDNA)-binding complex involved in the maintenance of genome stability.

Ribonuclease III (hereinafter referred to as “RNase III”) is an enzyme that is expressed in most of the cells and is involved in the processing of pre-rRNA. It has a catalytic domain and an RNA binding domain that is located in the C-terminal end of the enzyme. Inhibition of human RNase III resulted in cell death suggesting a very important role of this enzyme.

Gene therapy and exon skipping have served as a means of gene transduction or gene manipulation respectively in humans during the past two decades. Gene therapy and exon skipping were initially developed as therapeutic strategies focused to address detrimental monogenetic diseases for which there were no available options for treatment, e.g. primary immunodeficiency. These approaches later found widespread application in curing neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, metabolic disorders, and more.

Gene therapy involves delivery of genes of interest cloned in viral vectors which are capable of producing viruses when transduced in human cells. Despite the continuous improvement of retroviral and lentiviral gene transfer systems for gene delivery during the last many years, there remain severe limitations preventing the development of efficient and safe clinical applications for these systems. These limitations include: their inability to target infection to cells of interest, inefficient transduction, propensity of viral vectors to get incorporated in human genome and create mutations, elicited high immune responses, inability to be administered intravenously or subcutaneously, and intramuscular administration that only leads to local delivery of the gene. Owing to these limitations, no gene therapy based medication has been approved by FDA for use in humans, though there have been many clinical trials during the past two decades and also many ongoing clinical trials.

Exon skipping is a therapeutic strategy where antisense oligonucleotides (AO) are delivered in humans to modulate splicing of genes resulting in mRNA that either produces functional proteins or blocks their production. AOs are short nucleic acid sequences designed to selectively bind to specific mRNA or pre-mRNA sequences. Despite the very convincing underlying principle behind this strategy, only one AO has been approved by the FDA (Vitravene^TM, an intraocular injection to inhibit cytomegalovirus retinitis in immunocompromised patients; Isis Pharmaceuticals, Carlsbad, Calif.), and this drug is no longer marketed. There are certain limitations associated with the use of AOs including difficulty in achieving pharmacologically significant concentrations in cells due to biological barriers like endothelial and basement membrane, cell membrane, and sequestration by phagolysosomes.

Further discussion on the subjects of gene transfer and delivery may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,531,647 (“Lentiviral Vectors for Site-Specific Gene Insertion”); U.S. Pat. No. 8,158,827 (“Transfection Reagents”); and U.S. Pat. No. 8,652,460 (“Gene Delivery System and Method of Use”) and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/635,012 (“Chimeric Dystrophin-VSV-G Protein to Treat Dystrophinopathies”. The disclosures of each of U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,531,647, 8,158,827 and 8,652,460 and U.S. application Ser. No. 14/635,012 are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Disclosed herein is a chimeric protein incorporating a transport domain and a nucleic acid binding domain and methods of utilizing those chimeric proteins for targeted delivery of therapeutic nucleic acids.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure is directed to a chimeric protein comprising VSV-G and a nucleic acid binding protein. In some embodiments, the nucleic acid binding protein is a histone. In some embodiments, the histone is selected from the group consisting of: H2A, H2B, H3, and H4. In some embodiments, the histone is tagged with VSV-G at the C-terminus. In some embodiments, histone is tagged with VSV-G at the N-terminus.

In some embodiments, the chimeric protein comprises SEQ. ID NO.: 1, SEQ. ID NO.: 2, SEQ. ID NO.: 3, SEQ. ID NO.: 4, SEQ. ID NO.: 5, SEQ. ID NO.: 6, SEQ. ID NO.: 7, or SEQ. ID NO.: 8, and pharmacologically acceptable equivalents thereof. In some embodiments, the chimeric protein comprises SEQ. ID NO.: 15, SEQ. ID NO.: 16, SEQ. ID NO.: 17, SEQ. ID NO.: 18, SEQ. ID NO.: 19, SEQ. ID NO.: 20, SEQ. ID NO.: 21, or SEQ. ID NO.: 22, and pharmacologically acceptable equivalents thereof. In some embodiments, the chimeric protein includes a sequence having at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least 97%, at least 98%, or at least 99% sequence identity with SEQ. ID NO.: 1, SEQ. ID NO.: 2, SEQ. ID NO.: 3, SEQ. ID NO.: 4, SEQ. ID NO.: 5, SEQ. ID NO.: 6, SEQ. ID NO.: 7, or SEQ. ID NO.: 8. In some embodiments, the chimeric protein includes a sequence having at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least 97%, at least 98%, or at least 99% sequence identity with SEQ. ID NO.: 15, SEQ. ID NO.: 16, SEQ. ID NO.: 17, SEQ. ID NO.: 18, SEQ. ID NO.: 19, SEQ. ID NO.: 20, SEQ. ID NO.: 21, or SEQ. ID NO.: 22.

In some embodiments, the nucleic acid binding protein is SSBP-1. In some embodiments, SSBP-1 is tagged with VSV-G at the C-terminus. In some embodiments, SSBP-1 is tagged with VSV-G at the N-terminus. In some embodiments, the chimeric protein comprises SEQ. ID NO.: 9 or SEQ. ID NO.: 10, and pharmacologically acceptable equivalents thereof. In some embodiments, the chimeric protein comprises SEQ. ID NO.: 23 or SEQ. ID NO.: 24, and pharmacologically acceptable equivalents thereof. In some embodiments, the chimeric protein includes a sequence having at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least 97%, at least 98%, or at least 99% sequence identity with SEQ. ID NO.: 9 or SEQ. ID NO.: 10. In some embodiments, the chimeric protein includes a sequence having at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least 97%, at least 98%, or at least 99% sequence identity with SEQ. ID NO.: 23 or SEQ. ID NO.: 24.

In some embodiments, the nucleic acid binding protein is RNase III. In some embodiments, RNase III is tagged with VSV-G at the C-terminus. In some embodiments, RNase III is tagged with VSV-G at the N-terminus. In some embodiments, the chimeric protein comprises SEQ. ID NO.: 11, SEQ. ID NO.: 12, or SEQ. ID NO.: 13, and pharmacologically acceptable equivalents thereof. In some embodiments, wherein the chimeric protein comprises SEQ. ID NO.: 14, SEQ. ID NO.: 25, or SEQ. ID NO.: 26, and pharmacologically acceptable equivalents thereof. In some embodiments, wherein the chimeric protein includes a sequence having at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least 97%, at least 98%, or at least 99% sequence identity with SEQ. ID NO.: 11, SEQ. ID NO.: 12, or SEQ. ID NO.: 13. In some embodiments, wherein the chimeric protein includes a sequence having at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least 97%, at least 98%, or at least 99% sequence identity with SEQ. ID NO.: 14, SEQ. ID NO.: 25, or SEQ. ID NO.: 26.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure is directed to a method of treating a medical condition in a subject comprising the steps of providing a therapeutic compound comprising a chimeric protein including VSV-G, a nucleic acid binding protein, and at least one nucleic acid, and administering to said subject a pharmaceutically active amount of said therapeutic compound. In some embodiments, the present disclosure is directed to a therapeutic compound comprising a chimeric protein as described herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter that is regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 portrays chimeric VSV-G H2A protein fractions purified by SDS-PAGE analysis.

FIG. 2 portrays western blot analysis of the proteins in the purified fractions from SDS-PAGE analysis as seen in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 portrays expression of GFP:HEK 293 cells transfected with eGFPN1 plasmid.

FIG. 4A portrays GFP-including plasmid eGFPN1 transfected in HEK293 cells using purified VSV-G-H2A protein.

FIG. 4B portrays GFP-including plasmid eGFPN1 transfected in NIH 3T3 cells using purified VSV-G-H2A protein.

FIG. 5 portrays a method of treating a medical condition using a chimeric protein such as that isolated in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In some embodiments, the present disclosure is directed to a number of chimeric VSV-G (or VSV-G variants) proteins comprising VSV-G and at least one nucleic acid binding protein. In some embodiments, these proteins are used as transfer vehicles to enhance delivery of nucleic acids like plasmid DNA, single and double stranded DNA and RNA, and antisense oligonucleotides into human and animal cells.

VSV-G cloned in expression plasmids, when transfected in cells, form sedimetable vesicles in the absence of any viral components. The chimeric proteins described here efficiently complex with nucleic acids in cell free systems and can be used as an effective means for delivering AOs and genes of interest in human and animal cells. This approach mitigates a number of risks and issues that are associated with gene therapy and exon skipping, i.e. there is no risk of toxicity related to viral production or risk of viral genome incorporation and possible mutations arising as a result. Since the VSV-G proteins enter into cells via the LDL receptors which are almost ubiquitously expressed, the transduction efficiency of the chimeric VSV-G-nucleic acid transfer vehicle is higher than that achieved by exon-skipping. The chimeric VSV-G-nucleic acid transfer vehicle consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure can also replace the current mechanism of gene therapy. As this proposed chimeric VSV-G-nucleic acid transfer vehicle does not rely on virus production, it has fewer side effects and can be administered subcutaneously. This system can be used for gene replacement and can have wide application to cure many disorders arising from genetic mutations.

In some embodiments, wild-type VSV-G is used in the chimeric protein. In some embodiments, VSV-G variants are used in the chimeric protein. In some embodiments, the VSV-G variants include the thermostable and serum resistant mutants of VSV-G, e.g. S162T, T230N, T368A, or combined mutants T230N+T368A or K66T +S162T+T230N+T368A. In some embodiments, variant VSV-G has at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least 97%, at least 98%, or at least 99% sequence identity with wild-type VSV-G. As used in the following embodiments, the term “VSV-G” refers to both wild-type VSV-G and VSV-G variants.

In some embodiments, the chimeric protein of the present disclosure has at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least 97%, at least 98%, or at least 99% sequence identity with the combined sequence of VSV-G +nucleic acid binding protein, with the nucleic acid binding protein tagged with VSV-G at the C-terminus. In some embodiments, chimeric protein has at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least 97%, at least 98%, or at least 99% sequence identity with the combined sequence of VSV-G+nucleic acid binding protein, with the nucleic acid binding protein tagged with VSV-G at the N-terminus. In some embodiments, the chimeric protein comprises a nucleotide sequence that has at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least 97%, at least 98%, or at least 99% sequence identity with at least one of SEQ. ID NO.: 1, SEQ. ID NO.: 3, SEQ. ID NO.: 5, SEQ. ID NO.: 7, SEQ. ID NO.: 9, SEQ. ID NO.: 11, SEQ. ID NO.: 13, SEQ. ID NO.: 15, SEQ. ID NO.: 17, SEQ. ID NO.: 19, SEQ. ID NO.: 21, SEQ. ID NO.: 23, or SEQ. ID NO.: 25. In some embodiments, the chimeric protein comprises an amino acid sequence that has at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least 97%, at least 98%, or at least 99% sequence identity with at least one of SEQ. ID NO.: 2, SEQ. ID NO.: 4, SEQ. ID NO.: 6, SEQ. ID NO.: 8, SEQ. ID NO.: 10, SEQ. ID NO.: 12, SEQ. ID NO.: 14, SEQ. ID NO.: 16, SEQ. ID NO.: 18, SEQ. ID NO.: 20, SEQ. ID NO.: 22, SEQ. ID NO.: 24, or SEQ. ID NO.: 26. In some embodiments, any suitable mutations, substitutions, additions, and deletions may be made to the chimeric protein so long as the pharmacological activity of the resulting variant chimeric protein is retained.

In some embodiments, the nucleic acid binding protein is selected from the group consisting of H2A histone, H2B histone, H3 histone, H4 histone, SSBP-1, RNase III, and combinations thereof.

SEQ. ID NO: 1 is a nucleotide sequence of an H2A histone-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the C-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 2 is an amino acid sequence of an H2A histone-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the C-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 3 is a nucleotide sequence of an H2B histone-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the C-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 4 is an amino acid sequence of an H2B histone-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the C-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 5 is a nucleotide sequence of an H3 histone-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the C-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 6 is an amino acid sequence of an H3 histone-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the C-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 7 is a nucleotide sequence of an H4 histone-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the C-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 8 is an amino acid sequence of an H4 histone-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the C-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 9 is a nucleotide sequence of an SSBP-1-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the C-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 10 is an amino acid sequence of an SSBP-1-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the C-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 11 is a nucleotide sequence of an RNase III-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the C-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 12 is an amino acid sequence of an RNase III-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the C-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 13 is a nucleotide sequence of a partial RNase III-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the N-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 14 is an amino acid sequence of a partial RNase III-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the N-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 15 is a nucleotide sequence of an H2A histone-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the N-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 16 is an amino acid sequence of an H2A histone-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the N-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 17 is a nucleotide sequence of an H2B histone-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the N-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 18 is an amino acid sequence of an H2B histone-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the N-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 19 is a nucleotide sequence of an H3 histone-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the N-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 20 is an amino acid sequence of an H3 histone-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the N-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 21 is a nucleotide sequence of an H4 histone-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the N-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 22 is an amino acid sequence of an H4 histone-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the N-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 23 is a nucleotide sequence of an SSBP-1-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the N-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 24 is an amino acid sequence of an SSBP-1-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the N-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 25 is a nucleotide sequence of an RNase III-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the N-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

SEQ. ID NO: 26 is an amino acid sequence of an RNase III-VSV-G chimeric protein, with VSV-G at the N-terminus, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure is directed to a therapeutic compound comprising a chimeric protein consistent with those described in the above-identified embodiments. In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 5, the present disclosure is directed to a method of treating a medical condition within a subject. In some embodiments, the method of treating a subject comprises the steps of providing 500 a therapeutic compound comprising a chimeric protein including VSV-G, a nucleic acid binding protein, and at least one nucleic acid, and administering 510 to the subject a pharmaceutically active amount of the therapeutic compound. In some embodiments, at least one nucleic acid is a therapeutic gene.

EXAMPLE

The following example utilizes a VSV-G-H2A chimeric protein constructed from a human histone H2A protein tagged with VSV-G at the N-terminus. The VSV-G-H2A chimeric gene was synthesized using the propriety technology from Integrated DNA Technologies, Skokie, IL. The VSV-G-H2A gene was cloned in the mammalian expression vector pTT5 at EcoRI and NotI restriction enzyme sites. The plasmid was prepared and sequenced for confirmation.

HEK293T cells were passed to ˜70% confluency a day prior to transfection (3× T75 flasks, ˜7.5×10⁶ cells/flask). The following day, the cells in T75 flasks were transfected using Lipofectamine® 2000 (Life Technologies Corp., Carlsbad, Calif.) (per T75 flask: 3:1 ratio; 20 ug DNA; and 60 μL Lipofectamine® 2000). Flasks were incubated at 37° C. and 5% CO₂ overnight. 24 hours after transfection, the conditioned media was removed and replaced with fresh media (14 mL/flask). Cells were further incubated overnight. Conditioned media was harvested and replaced with fresh media (14 mL/flask) and again incubated overnight. Harvested media was then filtered using 0.45 μm filter and stored at −80° C. The following day, conditioned media was harvested again and filtered using 0.45 μm filter. Conditioned media was pooled with media from the previous day (˜84 mL).

Conditioned media was centrifuged using the Optima® Ultra Centrifuge (with swinging bucket rotor SW32Ti) (Beckman Coulter, Inc., Brea, Calif.) at 25,000 rpm for 2 h at 4° C. (3 centrifuge tubes, ˜28 mL/tube). Supernatant was removed and pellets were resuspended in 5 mL PBS per tube. 5 mL of 20% sucrose/PBS cushion plus 5 mL resuspended pellet was added to a new centrifuge tube. PBS was overlaid to fill the centrifuge tube. Samples were centrifuged at 25,000 rpm for 6 hours at 4° C. Supernatant was removed and each pellet was resuspended in 100 μL PBS (300 μL total volume). An additional 100 μL of PBS was added to each centrifuge tube to resuspend any remaining VSV-G-H2A protein (300 μL total volume). Protein concentration was measured by A660 Assay.

The chimeric VSV-G H2A protein fractions thus purified were run on polyacrylamide gels before transfer to nitrocellulose membranes. Proteins were run in 4-15% BioRad TGX™ gel (BioRad Laboratories Inc., Hercules, Calif.) with BioRad Precision Plus Protein™ markers, at 300 V for 21 minutes and then stained with SYPRO®-Orange stain (Molecular Probes, Inc., Eugene, Oreg.), the results of which can be seen at FIG. 1. The contents for each lane found in FIG. 1 are as follows: Lane 1: Negative Control—untransfected cells only; Lane 2: molecular weight marker; Lane 3: M20336-01 (20 μL load); Lane 4: M20336-01 (2 μL load); Lane 5: molecular weight marker; and Lane 6: M20336-02 (20 μL load). The HEK293 untransfected lane did not stain for any protein while rest of the lanes containing the fractions of purified VSV-G-H2A chimeric protein stained for proteins confirming the presence of purified proteins in the fractions.

After confirming the presence of the proteins in the purified fractions, proteins were run using the same conditions as described above and transferred to nitrocellulose membrane. The chimeric VSV-G-H2A protein was detected by probing with anti-VSV-G-primary antibody and anti-rabbit HRP secondary antibody. Proteins were transferred to nitrocellulose membrane using Bio-Rad Trans-Blot® Turbo^TM. Signal was detected using the SNAP id® system (Merck KGAA, Darmstadt, Del.) and SuperSignal® West Pico chemiluminescent substrate (Pierce Biotechnology, Inc., Rockford, Ill.), the results of which can be seen in the western blot shown in FIG. 2. The contents for each lane found in FIG. 2 are as follows: Lane 1: molecular weight marker; Lane 2: M20336-01 (20 μL load); Lane 3: molecular weight marker; Lane 4: M20336-01 (2 μL load); Lane 5: molecular weight marker; Lane 6: M20336-02 (20 μL load); Lane 7: molecular weight marker; Lane 8: Negative Control—untransfected cells only. A band was detected specific to the size of VSV-G H2A chimeric protein at 75 kD in lanes 2 and 6 containing 204 load of protein. No bands were detected in lanes 4 and 8 with 2 μL load of purified protein fraction and non-transfected HEK293 protein fraction. Therefore, the presence of VSV-G-H2A chimeric protein in the purified fraction was confirmed.

In order to evaluate the capacity of the purified VSV-G-H2A chimeric protein to act as nucleic acid transfer vehicle, HEK293 cells and NIH 3T3 cells were transfected with green fluorescent protein (GFP) expressing plasmid eGFPN1 utilizing the VSV-G-H2A chimeric protein. Firstly, the eGFPN1 plasmid was transfected in HEK293 cells using ViaFect™ transfection reagent (Promega Corp., Madison, Wis.) to confirm that GFP was expressed properly. Successful GFP expression is shown in FIG. 3.

To determine whether similar expression of GFP could be seen when VSV-G-H2A chimeric protein was used as a transfer vehicle, 2 μg of eGFPN1 plasmid was mixed with 3 μg of VSV-G H2A purified chimeric protein and overlaid in each of HEK293 and NIH 3T3 cells seeded on coverslips in 6-well plates. Cells were incubated for 48 hours before analysis. To detect whether GFP has expressed, the existing medium in the cells was aspirated, washed in Dulbecco's phosphate buffered saline (DPBS), and then fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde solution. Cells were washed again with DPBS a couple of times, stained with 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI), and then mounted in appropriate mounting medium and viewed under a fluorescence microscope. The results of this procedure can be seen in FIGS. 4A and 4B, wherein DAPI staining depicts the nucleus and the green fluorescence depicts the GFP. Interestingly, the HEK293 and NIH 3T3 cells in which VSV-G-H2A purified chimeric protein was used as a transfer vehicle to transfect eGFPN1 plasmid expressed GFP. Therefore, it was concluded that VSV-G-H2A chimeric protein, as well as the other chimeric proteins disclosed in the present disclosure and functional equivalents thereof, are candidates for use as nucleic acid transfer vehicles as proposed by the present disclosure.

One or more embodiments of the present invention have been described. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A chimeric protein comprising VSV-G and a nucleic acid binding protein.

2. The chimeric protein according to claim 1, wherein the nucleic acid binding protein is a histone.

3. The chimeric protein according to claim 2, wherein the histone is selected from the group consisting of: H2A, H2B, H3, and H4.

4. The chimeric protein according to claim 2, wherein the histone is tagged with VSV-G at the C-terminus.

5. The chimeric protein according to claim 2, wherein the histone is tagged with VSV-G at the N-terminus.

6. The chimeric protein according to claim 4, wherein the chimeric protein comprises SEQ. ID NO.: 1, SEQ. ID NO.: 2, SEQ. ID NO.: 3, SEQ. ID NO.: 4, SEQ. ID NO.: 5, SEQ. ID NO.: 6, SEQ. ID NO.: 7, or SEQ. ID NO.: 8, and pharmacologically acceptable equivalents thereof.

7. The chimeric protein according to claim 5, wherein the chimeric protein comprises SEQ. ID NO.: 15, SEQ. ID NO.: 16, SEQ. ID NO.: 17, SEQ. ID NO.: 18, SEQ. ID NO.: 19, SEQ. ID NO.: 20, SEQ. ID NO.: 21, or SEQ. ID NO.: 22, and pharmacologically acceptable equivalents thereof.

8. The chimeric protein according to claim 4, wherein the chimeric protein includes a sequence having at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least 97%, at least 98%, or at least 99% sequence identity with SEQ. ID NO.: 1, SEQ. ID NO.: 2, SEQ. ID NO.: 3, SEQ. ID NO.: 4, SEQ. ID NO.: 5, SEQ. ID NO.: 6, SEQ. ID NO.: 7, or SEQ. ID NO.: 8.

9. The chimeric protein according to claim 5, wherein the chimeric protein includes a sequence having at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least 97%, at least 98%, or at least 99% sequence identity with SEQ. ID NO.: 15, SEQ. ID NO.: 16, SEQ. ID NO.:

17, SEQ. ID NO.: 18, SEQ. ID NO.: 19, SEQ. ID NO.: 20, SEQ. ID NO.: 21, or SEQ. ID NO.: 22.

10. The chimeric protein according to claim 1, wherein the nucleic acid binding protein is SSBP-1.

11. The chimeric protein according to claim 10, wherein SSBP-1 is tagged with VSV-G at the C-terminus.

12. The chimeric protein according to claim 10, wherein SSBP-1 is tagged with VSV-G at the N-terminus.

13. The chimeric protein according to claim 11, wherein the chimeric protein comprises SEQ. ID NO.: 9 or SEQ. ID NO.: 10, and pharmacologically acceptable equivalents thereof.

14. The chimeric protein according to claim 12, wherein the chimeric protein comprises SEQ. ID NO.: 23 or SEQ. ID NO.: 24, and pharmacologically acceptable equivalents thereof.

15. The chimeric protein according to claim 11, wherein the chimeric protein includes a sequence having at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least 97%, at least 98%, or at least 99% sequence identity with SEQ. ID NO.: 9 or SEQ. ID NO.: 10.

16. The chimeric protein according to claim 12, wherein the chimeric protein includes a sequence having at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least 97%, at least 98%, or at least 99% sequence identity with SEQ. ID NO.: 23 or SEQ. ID NO.: 24.

17. The chimeric protein according to claim 1, wherein the nucleic acid binding protein is RNase III.

18. The chimeric protein according to claim 17, wherein RNase III is tagged with VSV-G at the C-terminus.

19. The chimeric protein according to claim 17, wherein RNase III is tagged with VSV-G at the N-terminus.

20. The chimeric protein according to claim 18, wherein the chimeric protein comprises SEQ. ID NO.: 11, SEQ. ID NO.: 12, or SEQ. ID NO.: 13, and pharmacologically acceptable equivalents thereof.