Recombinant coxsackievirus vectors for prevention and therapy of virus-induced heart disease

Cardiovascular diseases are the major cause of human death and have been linked to many different risk factors. Among them, coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3), as a member of the enterovirus group, is one of the most important infectious agents of virus-induced myocarditis. Despite the fact that the molecular structure of this pathogen has been characterized very precisely, there is no virus-specific preventive or therapeutic procedure against CVB3-induced heart disease in clinical use today. A promising approach to prevent CVB3-caused myocarditis represents the mutation of the viral genome in a way that coding sequences of cytokines are integrated into the viral RNA. Recombinant cytokine-expressing CVB3 variants were established to increase the local cytokine concentration and to modulate TH1-/TH2-specific immune responses. Especially protective against CVB3-induced murine myocarditis is the application of an interferon-γ (IFN-γ)-expressing recombinant coxsackievirus variant. The local and simultaneous expression of an immuno-relevant cytokine by the virus itself induces a strong and long-lasting immune response which protects laboratory animals against lethal infections.