Patent ID: 7662939

Claim:
A coxsackievirus B3 genome for use as a vector, which is modified to produce a virus having a restricted or altered species or tissue tropism as compared with an equivalent, but unmodified virus, wherein the modification consists of replacing the Domain II and the Domain I/II linker of the 5′ nontranslated region (5′NTR) of said genome with Domain II and the Domain I/II linker of the 5′NTR of a second coxsackievirus B3 genome that encodes an a second coxsackievirus B3 having the restricted or altered species or tissue tropism, thereby generating a chimeric 5′NTR; wherein said Domain II and the Domain I/II linker corresponds to nucleotides 88-186 of the CVB3/CO 5′NTR.