Enhancing of measles virus infection by magnetofection.

Magnetofection is a viral and non-viral gene delivery method using polyethyleneimine-conjugated super-paramagnetic nanoparticle under a magnetic field. Previous studies have indicated that magnetofection enhanced the infection of adenoviruses and retroviruses. It is shown that magnetofection enhances the infection of measles virus, a paramyxovirus. When cells expressing a measles virus receptor human SLAM were infected with a measles virus that encodes green fluorescent protein gene, magnetofection enhanced measles virus infection by 30- to 70-fold. The infection of SLAM-negative cells with measles virus was also enhanced by magnetofection, but to a lesser extent. These results indicate that magnetofection could be useful for isolation of measles virus from clinical specimens.