Method for determining whether an enveloped negative-strand single-stranded RNA virus having a genome encoding large protein L of HPIV-3 is attenuated

摘要

The present invention is based upon the observation that the temperature sensitive phenotype of the cp45 strain of HPIV-3 correlates to a mutation in the large, or L, gene of cp45 relative to the corresponding gene in the wild-type strain. This correlation enables new vaccines directed at viruses other than HPIV-3 by combining, through genetic engineering methods, the region of the cp45 viral genome which encodes proteins responsible for replication and internal structure with the region of the genome of the target virus which encodes proteins responsible for attachment, penetration and release of the virus and virus progeny, respectfully. Moreover, it is possible to determine whether HPIV-3 or a cp45-hybrid virus is attenuated by confirming the presence or absence of mutations in its L gene.