Use of adenoviral vectors with a minimal cytomegalovirus promoter

Abstract

E1-deleted recombinant adenoviruses 5 are widely used as gene vectors for basic and clinical research. Most adenoviral constructions bear an expression cassette inserted into the E1 region of their genome close to the 5′ end and include a heterologous promoter. The major immediate early human cytomegalovirus (hCMV) and the Rous sarcoma virus promoters, which have fairly high and consistent activity, are among the most extensively used. Nevertheless, expression of delivered protein from these promoters is often excessive, and weaker transcriptional activity would be desirable.