Abstract: Objective To infect human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells with different HIV-based vectors, and introduce foreign genes into the cells with HIV-based lentivirus vectors.MethodsThe human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells, U87.CD4.CCR5 and U87.CD4.CXCR4, were infected with ADA/Luc, HXB₂/Luc, VSV-G/Luc and VSV-G/GFP.ResultsU87.CD4 with corresponding coreceptors could be infected by ADA/Luc and HXB₂/Luc, however, the human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells could not be infected by ADA/Luc and HXB₂/Luc, even pseudotypes. VSV-G/Luc and VSV-G/GFP could be transfered into the human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells. After 3 days post-infection, the relative proportion of positive cells of human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells expressing VSV-G/GFP was 18%.ConclusionHIV-based lentivirus vectors can introduce foreign genes into the human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells.

Key words: smooth muscle cell, pulmonary hypertension, vector, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)