Exploring the Potential of Cytomegalovirus-Based Vectors: A Review.

Viral vectors have emerged as powerful tools for delivering and expressing foreign genes, playing a pivotal role in gene therapy. Among these vectors, cytomegalovirus (CMV) stands out as a promising viral vector due to its distinctive attributes including large packaging capacity, ability to achieve superinfection, broad host range, capacity to induce CD8+ T cell responses, lack of integration into the host genome, and other qualities that make it an appealing vector candidate. Engineered attenuated CMV strains such as Towne and AD169 that have a ~15 kb genomic DNA deletion caused by virus passage guarantee human safety.

Insights into the Transcriptome of Human Cytomegalovirus: A Comprehensive Review.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a widespread pathogen that poses significant risks to immunocompromised individuals. Its genome spans over 230 kbp and potentially encodes over 200 open-reading frames. The HCMV transcriptome consists of various types of RNAs, including messenger RNAs (mRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), circular RNAs (circRNAs), and microRNAs (miRNAs), with emerging insights into their biological functions.