A notable difference with the prototype vesiculovirus, Vesicular Stomatitis Virus was in the L-domain flanking sequences of the M protein that are known to be crucial for interaction with host proteins.
These results suggest that M protein mutant vesicular stomatitis virus is a good candidate oncolytic virus for the treatment of selected metastatic colorectal cancers.
To enhance oncolysis, we tested a more cytopathic ICP0-null HSV and a vesicular stomatitis virus M protein mutant and found that despite improved in vitro replication, oncolysis in vivo did not improve.
Using M protein mutant vesicular stomatitis virus (DeltaM51-VSV) as a gene-delivery vector, we demonstrate that a high level of transgene expression could be achieved in approximately 70% of DCs without affecting cell viability.
These findings indicate an important role for the PSAP region (aa 33-44) of the M protein in the pathology of VSV infection and may have implications for the development of VSV as a vaccine and/or oncolytic vector.