Efficient and sustained transgene expression in human corneal cells mediated by a lentiviral vector

The development of vectors and techniques able to transfer potentially therapeutic genetic information to corneal tissues efficiently may have broad clinical applications. Although a variety of vectors have been tested for their ability to transduce corneal tissue, these systems have been ineffective at transducing all cell types or have been associated with a relatively short duration of transgene expression. Towards the implementation of efficient, long-term transgene expression in all corneal cell types, we have studied the ability of a recombinant lentiviral vector, containing the enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP), to mediate gene transfer into human corneal tissue in vitro and in situ. Human primary keratocytes, cultured in vitro, were efficiently transduced by a lentiviral vector as determined by fluorescent-activated cell sorting (FACS) and by fluorescent microscopy. Transduction efficiency was found to be dependent upon multiplicity of infection (MOI); 92% of keratocytes were transduced at an MOI of 1000. The proportion of eGFP-positive cells remained unchanged throughout continuous culture for 60 days, indicating stable expression and a lack of selective pressure for or against transduced cells. Human corneal tissue, obtained at the time of penetrating keratoplasty, demonstrated efficient in situ transduction with this vector. Endothelial cells, epithelial cells and stromal keratocytes at the exposed cut edge of the corneal tissue in situ demonstrated eGFP expression. Underlying stromal cells not in direct contact with vector-containing media, were not transduced, implying that virus-cell contact is required for transduction. Transduced corneal tissues expressed eGFP in situ for the life of the corneal button in extended organ culture (60 days). These results imply that lentiviral vectors may prove to be useful tools, able to transduce corneal tissue efficiently, and that transgene expression is temporally stable. Gene Therapy (2000) 7, 196-200.     

Prolonged transgene expression in murine salivary glands following non-primate lentiviral vector transduction.

Salivary glands are an accessible organ for gene therapy, enabling expression of recombinant proteins for both exocrine and endocrine secretion. Lentivirus-based vectors have many advantages for gene therapy, including their ability to infect nondividing cells and to stably integrate into the host genome, enabling long-term transgene expression without eliciting an inflammatory immune response. In the present study, murine salivary glands were inoculated with feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV)-based lentiviral vectors expressing various reporter genes. Luciferase expression was observed as early as 24 h posttransduction, peaked at 17-21 days, and remained stable for more than 80 days. Staining with X-gal suggested that mucous acinar cells were effectively transduced. FIV vector transduction with the secreted alkaline phosphatase gene increased serum levels in treated animals for up to 45 days, and the FIV vector harboring the interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) expression cassette induced an increase in IFN-gamma serum levels as well as in the supernatant of salivary gland explant cultures. These results demonstrate that the transduction of salivary glands with nonprimate lentiviral vectors may provide a novel and highly effective vehicle for long-term endocrine transgene expression.     

High-level beta-globin expression and preferred intragenic integration after lentiviral transduction of human cord blood stem cells

Transplantation of genetically corrected autologous hematopoietic stem cells is an attractive approach for the cure of sickle-cell disease and beta-thalassemia. Here, we infected human cord blood cells with a self-inactivating lentiviral vector encoding an anti-sickling betaA-T87Q-globin transgene and analyzed the transduced progeny produced over a 6-month period after transplantation of the infected cells directly into sublethally irradiated NOD/LtSz-scid/scid mice. Approximately half of the human erythroid and myeloid progenitors regenerated in the mice containing the transgene, and erythroid cells derived in vitro from these in vivo-regenerated cells produced high levels of betaA-T87Q-globin protein. Linker-mediated PCR analysis identified multiple transgene-positive clones in all mice analyzed with 2.1 +/- 0.1 integrated proviral copies per cell. Genomic sequencing of vector-containing fragments showed that 86% of the proviral inserts had occurred within genes, including several genes implicated in human leukemia. These findings indicate effective transduction of very primitive human cord blood cells with a candidate therapeutic lentiviral vector resulting in the long-term and robust, erythroid-specific production of therapeutically relevant levels of beta-globin protein. However, the frequency of proviral integration within genes that regulate hematopoiesis points to a need for additional safety modifications.     

Stable transduction of primary human monocytes by simian lentiviral vector PBj.

Despite the ability to infect nonproliferating cells, current lentiviral vectors are inefficient at mediating gene transfer into quiescent primary human cells such as monocytes. Here, a replication-incompetent vector based on a molecular clone of simian immunodeficiency virus strain PBj (SIVsmmPBj1.9) was generated that, in contrast to lenti- and gamma-retroviral control vectors, enabled transfer of heterologous genes into human diploid fibroblasts and cell lines blocked in the G(0) phase of the cell cycle. Moreover, freshly isolated human monocytes refractory to HIV-1-derived vectors were efficiently transduced by the PBj vector independent of the viral Nef protein. Stable chromosomal integration of PBj-derived viral expression vectors was verified in transduced cells. The capability of the PBj vector to transduce quiescent cells such as unstimulated primary human monocytes is an important extension of human gene therapy perspectives.     

Stable transgene expression in tumors and metastases after transduction with lentiviral vectors based on human immunodeficiency virus type 1

The relatively low efficiency of target cell transduction and variations in the stability of transgene expression by retroviral vectors based on the Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMLV) are major impediments to the use of such vectors in cancer gene therapy approaches. The present study was designed to investigate the stability and efficiency of transgene expression in human lung and breast cancer cell lines transduced with vectors based on human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in vitro and in vivo in nude mouse models of metastasis. H460 lung carcinoma cells and MDA-MB-231 breast carcinoma cells were transduced with lentiviral vectors encoding enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and beta-galactosidase (beta-Gal), respectively. Transduced H460 cells were administered to nude mice by either intravenous or subcutaneous injection and MDA-MB-231 cells were implanted orthotopically into the mammary fat pad of such mice to induce primary tumor and metastatic lung tumor formation. High-level EGFP expression was maintained in transduced H460 cells in metastatic lung nodules for up to 6 weeks and transgene expression in vitro persisted for at least 23 days after retrieval of EGFP-positive H460 cells from the lungs of tumor-bearing mice and subsequent cultivation in vitro. Likewise, beta-Gal expression levels in metastatic MDA-MB-231 cells in lungs remained high for up to 11 weeks. Southern blot analyses carried out with DNA from lung nodules showed that proviral DNAs in H460 cells were maintained stably over many cell generations and during subsequent reimplantation in vivo. However, molecular analyses revealed variations in transgene copy numbers and expression levels among individual lung clones. These results demonstrate the usefulness of HIV-1-based lentiviral vectors for sustained and stable transgene expression in human lung and breast cancer cell lines in vitro and in vivo.     

Cell-specific and efficient expression in mouse and human B cells by a novel hybrid immunoglobulin promoter in a lentiviral vector

The expression of genes specifically in B cells is of great interest in both experimental immunology as well as in future clinical gene therapy. We have constructed a novel enhanced B cell-specific promoter (Igk-E) consisting of an immunoglobulin kappa (Igk) minimal promoter combined with an intronic enhancer sequence and a 3' enhancer sequence from Ig genes. The Igk-E promoter was cloned into a lentiviral vector and used to control expression of enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP). Transduction of murine B-cell lymphoma cell lines and activated primary splenic B cells, with IgK-E-eGFP lentivirus, resulted in expression of eGFP, as analysed by flow cytometry, whereas expression in non-B cells was absent. The specificity of the promoter was further examined by transducing Lin(-) bone marrow with Igk-E-eGFP lentivirus and reconstituting lethally irradiated mice. After 16 weeks flow cytometry of lymphoid tissues revealed eGFP expression by CD19+ cells, but not by CD3+, CD11b+, CD11c+ or Gr-1+ cells. CD19+ cells were comprised of both marginal zone B cells and recirculating follicular B cells. Activated human peripheral mononuclear cells were also transduced with Igk-E-eGFP lentivirus under conditions of selective B-cell activation. The Igk-E promoter was able to drive expression of eGFP only in CD19+ cells, while eGFP was expressed by both spleen focus-forming virus and cytomegalovirus constitutive promoters in CD19+ and CD3+ lymphocytes. These data demonstrate that in these conditions the Igk-E promoter is cell specific and controls efficient expression of a reporter protein in mouse and human B cells in the context of a lentiviral vector.     

Clinical-scale lentiviral vector transduction of PBL for TCR gene therapy and potential for expression in less-differentiated cells

In human gene therapy applications, lentiviral vectors may have advantages over gamma-retroviral vectors because of their ability to transduce nondividing cells, their resistance to gene silencing, and a lack of integration site preference. In this study, we used VSV-G pseudotype third generation lentiviral vectors harboring specific antitumor T-cell receptor (TCR) to establish clinical-scale lentiviral transduction of peripheral blood lymphocyte (PBL). Spinoculation (1000g, 32 degrees C for 2 h) in the presence of protamine sulfate represents the most efficient and economical approach to transduce a large number of PBLs compared with RetroNectin-based methods. Up to 20 million cells per well of a 6-well plate were efficiently transduced and underwent an average 50-fold expansion in 2 weeks. TCR transduced PBL-mediated specific antitumor activities including interferon-gamma release and cell lysis. Compared with gamma-retroviral vectors, the TCR transgene could be preferentially expressed on a less-differentiated cell population.     

Recombinant factor VIII expression in hematopoietic cells following lentiviral transduction

Autologous transplantation of gene-modified hematopoietic stem cells may provide a therapeutic strategy for several monogeneic disorders. In previous studies, retroviral gene transfer of coagulation factor VIII (FVIII) into FVIII(-/-) mouse bone marrow (BM) cells did not result in detectable plasma FVIII levels. However, specific immune tolerance was achieved against neo-antigenic FVIII. Here, we used lentiviral vectors to study the ability of various hematopoietic cell types to synthesize and secrete recombinant FVIII. Several myeloid, monocytic and megakaryocytic cell lines (K-562, TF-1, Monomac-1, Mutz-3, Meg-01) expressed FVIII at 2-12 mU/10(4) cells. In contrast, two lymphatic cell lines, BV-173 and Molt-4, were less-efficiently transduced and did not express detectable FVIII. Similarly, peripheral blood-derived primary monocytes were transduced efficiently and expressed up to 20 mU/10(4) cells, whereas primary lymphocytes did not express FVIII. Although human and canine CD34(+) cells were transduced efficiently, the cells expressed very low levels of FVIII (up to 0.8 mU/10(4) cells). Following xenotransplantation of transduced CD34(+) into NOD/SCID mice, ELISA failed to detect FVIII in the plasma of engrafted mice. However, NOD/SCID repopulating cell (SRC)-derived human monocytes isolated from BM of these mice secreted functional recombinant FVIII after culture ex vivo. Again, SRC-derived human lymphocytes did not secrete FVIII. Therefore, certain hematopoietic cell types are able to synthesize and secrete functional recombinant FVIII. Our results show for the first time that transplantation of transduced CD34(+) progenitors may give rise to differentiated hematopoietic cells secreting a nonhematopoietic recombinant protein.     

Effective high-capacity gutless adenoviral vectors mediate transgene expression in human glioma cells.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common subtype of primary malignant brain tumor. Although serotype 5 adenoviral vectors (Ads) have been used successfully in clinical trials for GBM, the capacity of Ads to infect human glioma cells and the expression of adenoviral receptors in GBM cells have been challenged. In this report, we studied the expression of three molecules that have been shown to mediate adenoviral entry into cells, i.e., coxsackie and adenovirus receptor (CAR), integrin alphavbeta3 (INT), and major histocompatibility complex class I (MHCI), in rodent glioma cell lines and low-passage primary cultures and cell lines from human GBM. We correlated levels of expression of CAR, INT, and MHCI with transduction efficiency elicited by several high-capacity helper-dependent adenoviral vectors (HC-Ads). Expression levels of adenoviral receptors were variable among the different GBM cells studied. HC-Ad-mediated therapeutic gene expression was efficient, ranging between 20 and 80% of the total target cells expressing the encoded transgenes. Our results show no correlation between the levels of CAR, INT, or MHCI molecules and the levels of transgene expression or the number of GBM cells transduced. We conclude that expression levels of adenoviral receptors do not predict their transduction efficiency or biological function.     

慢病毒载体介导的基因转导技术对人脐血CD34+细胞基因表达谱的影响

目的 研究慢病毒载体(lentivirus vector)基凶转导技术对脐血CD34+细胞基因表达的影响.方法 将携带绿色荧光蛋白(GFP)基因的第三代自身失活(self-inactivating,SIN)慢病毒载体导入CD34+细胞,提取被病毒感染细胞的总RNA,应用cDNA微阵列技术对慢病毒载体感染的脐血CD34+细胞及正常对照细胞进行差异基因表达谱分析.结果 在23000个被检测基因中,与无基因导人的对照组细胞比较,基因导入细胞中表达的上调基因共2个,分别为IGSF4和HEC基因,下调基因共6个,分别为HNRPAO、ZNF205、FLNA、CLK3、LDB1、ACTA1.进一步对筛选出的差异表达基因进行半定量RT-PCR分析证实基因表达水平变化不明显.结论 本实验中应用的慢病毒载体对脐血CD34+细胞基凶表达无明显影响,有望成为临床基因治疗有效且安全的工具.     

人肌细胞增强因子2C基因慢病毒载体的构建及其在293T细胞中的表达

目的构建人肌细胞增强因子2C(MEF2C)慢病毒表达载体并检测其表达性能,以便应用过表达技术进一步研究MEF2C的功能。方法以人MEF2C基因序列为模板合成其编码框序列,通过限制性内切酶NotⅠ和NsiⅠ酶切、T4DNA连接酶连接,将MEF2C插入慢病毒载体质粒LV5-GFP,构建人MEF2C基因重组慢病毒质粒载体,转化感受态细菌,筛选阳性克隆,与包装质粒通过脂质体共转染人胚肾细胞系293T,进行慢病毒包装并测定病毒滴度。病毒感染293T细胞,荧光显微镜下观察感染效率,PCR方法检测MEF2C mRNA的过表达情况。结果成功构建慢病毒表达载体LV5-MEF2C-GFP,三质粒共转染293T细胞后形成假慢病毒颗粒;浓缩假病毒后测定其滴度为2×109TU/ml;以复感染系数MOI为5感染293T细胞,感染效率在70%以上。PCR证实感染带有目的基因假病毒的293T细胞表达MEF2CmRNA的水平较感染阴性对照病毒的293T细胞表达水平明显升高(t=11.93,P=0.000)。结论成功构建MEF2C慢病毒表达系统,为应用过表达技术探索其在肿瘤发生和发展中的作用奠定了基础。     

聚酰胺-胺型树枝状聚合物介导人凝血因子Ⅷ的体外高效稳定表达

目的 应用纳米材料聚酰胺-胺型(PAMAM)树枝状聚合物／逆病毒基础的质粒载体复合体，在表达水平、持续时间和细胞毒性三方面进行血友病A基因治疗的体外研究。方法 PAMAM树枝状聚合物与含B区缺失(760aa～1639aa)人FⅧ cDNA(FⅧBD cDNA)的以逆病毒为框架的重组表达质粒载体pLNC-FⅦBD形成复合体后，转染NIH3T3细胞系，于转染后第2，5，10，15，30d留取细胞培养上清，分别采用一期法和ELISA法检测其中人FⅧ的凝血活性(FⅧ：C)和抗原含量(FⅧ：Ag)，并应用RTPCR方法检测细胞中FⅧBD cDNA的转录，以细胞生长抑制率来表示PAMAM的细胞毒性。结果 PAMAM载体介导的人FⅧ的体外表达可持续30d，24h内每ml细胞上清中10^6细胞表达FⅧ：C平均为0．929U，FⅧ：Ag平均为0．188μg，期间FⅧ表达未见降低；PAMAM的细胞生长抑制率为5．32％。结论 PAMAM能够有效介导逆病毒基础的质粒载体pLNC-FⅧBD转染靶细胞，并维持高效稳定表达，且PAMAM的细胞毒性较低。     

Infection of intact human islets by a lentiviral vector.

The transfer of genes encoding immunomodulatory proteins to islets can be used to improve islet function, block apoptosis, and inhibit rejection following transplantation. Adenoviral vectors have been shown to infect intact human islets, but the immunogenicity and transient gene expression of the current adenoviral vectors may hinder their use clinically for islet transplantation. In this report, we compared an HIV-1-based lentiviral vector with the E1-deleted adenoviral vehicle of the Ad5 type for gene transfer to human islets in vitro. We demonstrate that at similar viral particle concentrations per islet that an HIV-based lentiviral vector is able to infect beta-cells within an intact human islet at an efficiency similar to an adenoviral vector. In addition, both the adenoviral and lentiviral vectors were able to express significant levels of soluble interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) protein following infection of intact islets. More importantly, there was no impairment of islet beta-cell function following adenoviral and lentiviral infection in responding to glucose stimulation. These results support the utility of replication-defective lentiviral vectors as efficient gene delivery vehicles to islets to faciliate transplantation of islets for therapy of type I diabetes.     

人miR-152基因的慢病毒载体的构建及稳定株筛选

目的构建人miR-152基因重组慢病毒载体并筛选稳定表达株。方法 PCR扩增包括miR-152前体所在区域的基因组DNA,克隆到慢病毒载体表达质粒pGIPZ中,得到重组的pGIPZ-miR-152表达载体,通过与包装质粒共转染HEK-293T细胞,获得携带miR-152 minigene的重组慢病毒。用病毒感染HepG2细胞,72 h后用嘌呤霉素筛选。用real-time PCR法检测miR-152基因的表达。结果构建的重组质粒经双酶切验证和测序比对鉴定正确;该质粒转染293T细胞获取的慢病毒滴度达7.5×107TU/mL;用病毒感染HepG2细胞,感染效率达70%以上。药物筛选10 d后,获得的过表达株miR-152表达量比正常细胞高近10倍。结论成功构建人miR-152基因慢病毒载体质粒pGIPZ-miR-152,并筛选出miR-152过表达细胞株,为后续实验奠定基础。     

Corticospinal tract transduction: a comparison of seven adeno-associated viral vector serotypes and a non-integrating lentiviral vector

The corticospinal tract (CST) is extensively used as a model system for assessing potential therapies to enhance neuronal regeneration and functional recovery following spinal cord injury (SCI). However, efficient transduction of the CST is challenging and remains to be optimised. Recombinant adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors and integration-deficient lentiviral vectors are promising therapeutic delivery systems for gene therapy to the central nervous system (CNS). In the present study the cellular tropism and transduction efficiency of seven AAV vector serotypes (AAV1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8) and an integration-deficient lentiviral vector were assessed for their ability to transduce corticospinal neurons (CSNs) following intracortical injection. AAV1 was identified as the optimal serotype for transducing cortical and CSNs with green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression detectable in fibres projecting through the dorsal CST (dCST) of the cervical spinal cord. In contrast, AAV3 and AAV4 demonstrated a low efficacy for transducing CNS cells and AAV8 presented a potential tropism for oligodendrocytes. Furthermore, it was shown that neither AAV nor lentiviral vectors generate a significant microglial response. The identification of AAV1 as the optimal serotype for transducing CSNs should facilitate the design of future gene therapy strategies targeting the CST for the treatment of SCI.