Chimpanzee adenovirus CV-68 adapted as a gene delivery vector interacts with the coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor.

A replication-defective form of chimpanzee adenovirus type 68 (C68) has been developed to circumvent problems posed by widespread preexisting immunity to common human adenovirus vectors. To investigate the determinants of C68 tropism, its interaction with the coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor (CAR) was studied. Although CHO cells were resistant to transduction by C68 as well as by adenovirus type 5 (Ad5), CHO cells expressing either human or murine CAR were transduced readily. C68 transduction, like Ad5 transduction, was blocked when cells were exposed to anti-CAR antibody or when virus was exposed to a soluble form of the CAR extracellular domain. These results indicate that gene delivery by C68 occurs by a CAR-dependent mechanism.