Retroviral pseudotypes - from scientific tools to clinical utility

Retroviral pseudotypes are important research and diagnostic tools for basic and clinical virology studies, facilitating the detailed investigation of individual genes, cellular receptors, antibody responses, serosurveillance and antiviral therapies. Importantly, pseudotypes enable the study of highly pathogenic viruses, without the need for high containment. Their use as gene therapy vectors is widely documented, but other uses, once less well known, are becoming more prominent. The substitution of envelope proteins expressed on the virion surface enables pseudotypes to be employed as surrogates for wildtype viruses in antibody neutralisation or antiviral screening assays and for the study of cell–virus receptor interactions. In addition, they are increasingly being utilised as vaccine immunogens, expressing the antigen either on the particle surface or as a transfer gene for cellular expression. These studies demonstrate the potential for using pseudotypes for both scientific and clinical applications.