scholarly journals Identification and Validation of Small Molecules That Enhance Recombinant Adeno-associated Virus Transduction following High-Throughput Screens

2016 ◽  
Vol 90 (16) ◽  
pp. 7019-7031 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah C. Nicolson ◽  
Chengwen Li ◽  
Matthew L. Hirsch ◽  
Vincent Setola ◽  
R. Jude Samulski

ABSTRACTWhile the recent success of adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated gene therapy in clinical trials is promising, challenges still face the widespread applicability of recombinant AAV(rAAV). A major goal is to enhance the transduction efficiency of vectors in order to achieve therapeutic levels of gene expression at a vector dose that is below the immunological response threshold. In an attempt to identify novel compounds that enhance rAAV transduction, we performed two high-throughput screens comprising 2,396 compounds. We identified 13 compounds that were capable of enhancing transduction, of which 12 demonstrated vector-specific effects and 1 could also enhance vector-independent transgene expression. Many of these compounds had similar properties and could be categorized into five groups: epipodophyllotoxins (group 1), inducers of DNA damage (group 2), effectors of epigenetic modification (group 3), anthracyclines (group 4), and proteasome inhibitors (group 5). We optimized dosing for the identified compounds in several immortalized human cell lines as well as normal diploid cells. We found that the group 1 epipodophyllotoxins (teniposide and etoposide) consistently produced the greatest transduction enhancement. We also explored transduction enhancement among single-stranded, self-complementary, and fragment vectors and found that the compounds could impact fragmented rAAV2 transduction to an even greater extent than single-stranded vectors.In vivoanalysis of rAAV2 and all of the clinically relevant compounds revealed that, consistent with ourin vitroresults, teniposide exhibited the greatest level of transduction enhancement. Finally, we explored the capability of teniposide to enhance transduction of fragment vectorsin vivousing an AAV8 capsid that is known to exhibit robust liver tropism. Consistent with ourin vitroresults, teniposide coadministration greatly enhanced fragmented rAAV8 transduction at 48 h and 8 days. This study provides a foundation based on the rAAV small-molecule screen methodology, which is ideally used for more-diverse libraries of compounds that can be tested for potentiating rAAV transduction.IMPORTANCEThis study seeks to enhance the capability of adeno-associated viral vectors for therapeutic gene delivery applicable to the treatment of diverse diseases. To do this, a comprehensive panel of FDA-approved drugs were tested in human cells and in animal models to determine if they increased adeno-associated virus gene delivery. The results demonstrate that particular groups of drugs enhance adeno-associated virus gene delivery by unknown mechanisms. In particular, the enhancement of gene delivery was approximately 50 to 100 times better with than without teniposide, a compound that is also used as chemotherapy for cancer. Collectively, these results highlight the potential for FDA-approved drug enhancement of adeno-associated virus gene therapy, which could result in safe and effective treatments for diverse acquired or genetic diseases.

1999 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1908-1915 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL S. LIPKOWITZ ◽  
BASIL HANSS ◽  
NATALIE TULCHIN ◽  
PATRICIA D. WILSON ◽  
JESSICA C. LANGER ◽  
...  

Abstract. There has been an increasing interest recently in the possibility of treating renal diseases using gene therapy. The ability to pursue gene therapy for renal diseases has been limited by the availability of an adequate system for gene delivery to the kidney. Adeno-associated virus (AAV) is a defective virus of the parvovirus family that has a number of properties attractive for renal gene delivery: recombinant AAV contains no viral genes; expression of genes delivered by these vectors does not activate cell-mediated immunity; the virus is able to transduce nondividing as well as dividing cells; and both wild-type and recombinant AAV integrate into the host chromosome resulting in long-term gene expression. Studies were performed to determine whether AAV can deliver reporter genes to kidney cells in vitro and in vivo. These studies show that AAV can deliver reporter genes with approximately equal efficiency to human mesangial, proximal tubule, thick ascending limb, collecting tubule, and renal cell carcinoma cells in primary culture. Immortalized mouse mesangial cells are transduced at a much greater efficiency. Transduction can be enhanced by pharmaceutical agents up to sevenfold in primary cells (transducing up to 20% of primary cells per well) and as much as 400-fold in immortalized mesangial cells. AAV delivered in vivo by intraparenchymal injection results in at least 3 mo of reporter gene expression in tubular epithelial, but not glomerular or vascular, cells at the injection site. These data indicate that AAV can deliver genes to renal cells both in vitro and in vivo resulting in prolonged gene expression, and thus AAV can be a useful tool for renal gene delivery.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (11) ◽  
pp. 821-830
Author(s):  
Prasad Pofali ◽  
Adrita Mondal ◽  
Vaishali Londhe

Background: Current gene therapy vectors such as viral, non-viral, and bacterial vectors, which are used for cancer treatment, but there are certain safety concerns and stability issues of these conventional vectors. Exosomes are the vesicles of size 40-100 nm secreted from multivesicular bodies into the extracellular environment by most of the cell types in-vivo and in-vitro. As a natural nanocarrier, exosomes are immunologically inert, biocompatible, and can cross biological barriers like the blood-brain barrier, intestinal barrier, and placental barrier. Objective: This review focusses on the role of exosome as a carrier to efficiently deliver a gene for cancer treatment and diagnosis. The methods for loading of nucleic acids onto the exosomes, advantages of exosomes as a smart intercellular shuttle for gene delivery and therapeutic applications as a gene delivery vector for siRNA, miRNA and Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) and also the limitations of exosomes as a gene carrier are all reviewed in this article. Methods: Mostly, electroporation and chemical transfection are used to prepare gene loaded exosomes. Results: Exosome-mediated delivery is highly promising and advantageous in comparison to the current delivery methods for systemic gene therapy. Targeted exosomes, loaded with therapeutic nucleic acids, can efficiently promote the reduction of tumor proliferation without any adverse effects. Conclusion: In the near future, exosomes can become an efficient gene carrier for delivery and a biomarker for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.


2020 ◽  
Vol 127 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Adamiak ◽  
Yaxuan Liang ◽  
Cherrie Sherman ◽  
Shweta Lodha ◽  
Erik Kohlbrenner ◽  
...  

Gene therapy is a promising approach for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Current strategies for myocardial gene transfer include the use of adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors. However, AAVs may not be ideal for gene therapy vectors owing to pre-existing AAV capsid immunity in the human population that may reduce transduction efficacy and hinder preclinical-to-clinical translation. Interestingly, recent studies suggest that exosome-mediated encapsulation may protect viruses from neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) against the capsid and promote viral infectivity. Here, we describe the ability of exosome-enveloped AAVs, i.e. exosomal AAVs (eAAVs), to evade NAbs and serve as a highly efficient gene delivery tool for cardiovascular therapeutics. We have developed a method to purifiy eAAVs from AAV-producing HEK-293T cells, and used electron/confocal microscopy, qPCR, immunoblotting, dynamic light scattering and interferometric imaging measurements to characterize eAAV morphology, contents and mechanism of action. We confirmed eAAVs represent vesicular fractions that exhibit common exosome phenotype, along with the presence of virus particles, and demonstrated that eAAV infectious entry potentially involves trafficking via endocytic compartments. Using flow cytometry, Langendorff perfusion system and bioluminescence imaging, we then evaluated efficiency of heart targeting for eAAV9/eAAV6 and standard AAV9/AAV6 encoding for mCherry or firefly luciferase in human cardiomyocytes in vitro and in mouse model in vivo . Regardless of the presence or absence of NAbs, we showed that eAAVs are more efficient in transduction in the same titer ranges as compared to standard AAVs. To test therapeutic efficacy, we intramyocardially injected eAAV9 or AAV9 vectors encoding for SERCA2a in NAb+ post-myocardial infarction mice and further evaluated cardiac function using echocardiography. Remarkably, eAAV9-SERCA2a outperformed standard AAVs significantly improving cardiac function in the presence of NAbs (%EF 55.14 ± 3.50 compared to 27.31 ± 1.63 at 6 weeks, respectively). In summary, delivery of AAVs protected by carrier exosomes (i.e. eAAVs) may retain the clinical benefits of AAVs while addressing one of its major challenges.


2006 ◽  
Vol 80 (19) ◽  
pp. 9831-9836 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bassel Akache ◽  
Dirk Grimm ◽  
Kusum Pandey ◽  
Stephen R. Yant ◽  
Hui Xu ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Adeno-associated virus serotype 8 (AAV8) is currently emerging as a powerful gene transfer vector, owing to its capability to efficiently transduce many different tissues in vivo. While this is believed to be in part due to its ability to uncoat more readily than other AAV serotypes such as AAV2, understanding all the processes behind AAV8 transduction is important for its application and optimal use in human gene therapy. Here, we provide the first report of a cellular receptor for AAV8, the 37/67-kDa laminin receptor (LamR). We document binding of LamR to AAV8 capsid proteins and intact virions in vitro and demonstrate its contribution to AAV8 transduction of cultured cells and mouse liver in vivo. We also show that LamR plays a role in transduction by three other closely related serotypes (AAV2, -3, and -9). Sequence and deletion analysis allowed us to map LamR binding to two protein subdomains predicted to be exposed on the AAV capsid exterior. Use of LamR, which is constitutively expressed in many clinically relevant tissues and is overexpressed in numerous cancers, provides a molecular explanation for AAV8's broad tissue tropism. Along with its robust transduction efficiency, our findings support the continued development of AAV8-based vectors for clinical applications in humans, especially for tumor gene therapy.


Methods ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 248-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hideki Mochizuki ◽  
Masauki Miura ◽  
Takashi Shimada ◽  
Yoshikuni Mizuno

2013 ◽  
Vol 110 (08) ◽  
pp. 244-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chung-Yang Kao ◽  
Shu-Jhu Yang ◽  
Mi-Hua Tao ◽  
Yung-Ming Jeng ◽  
I-Shing Yu ◽  
...  

SummaryUsing gain-of-function factor IX (FIX) for replacement therapy for haemophilia B (HB) is an attractive strategy. We previously reported a high-activity FIX, FIX-Triple (FIX-V86A/E277A/R338A) as a good substitute for FIX-WT (wild-type) in protein replacement therapy, gene therapy, and cell therapy. Here we generated a new recombinant FIXTripleL (FIX-V86A/E277A/R338L) by replacing the alanine at residue 338 of FIX-Triple with leucine as in FIX-Padua (FIX-R338L). Purified FIX-TripleL exhibited 22-fold higher specific clotting activity and 15-fold increased binding affinity to activated FVIII compared to FIXWT. FIX-TripleL increased the therapeutic potential of FIX-Triple by nearly 100% as demonstrated with calibrated automated thrombogram and thromboelastography. FIX-TripleL demonstrated a normal clearance rate in HB mice. The clotting activity of FIX-TripleL was consistently 2- to 3-fold higher in these mice than that of FIX-Triple or FIXR338L. Gene delivery of adeno-associated virus (AAV) in HB mice showed that FIX-TripleL had 15-fold higher specific clotting activity than FIX-WT, and this activity was significantly better than FIX-Triple (10-fold) or FIX-R338L (6-fold). At a lower viral dose, FIX-TripleL improved FIX activity from sub-therapeutic to therapeutic levels. Under physiological conditions, no signs of adverse thrombotic events were observed in long-term AAV-FIX-treated C57Bl/6 mice. Hepatocellular adenomas were observed in the high- but not the medium- or the lowdose AAV-treated mice expressing FIX-WT or FIX-Triple, indicating the advantages of using hyperfunctional FIX variants to reduce viral doses while maintaining therapeutic clotting activity. Thus, incorporation of the FIX Padua mutation significantly improves the clotting function of FIX-Triple so as to optimise protein replacement therapy and gene therapy.


Pharmaceutics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Rosy Ghanem ◽  
Véronique Laurent ◽  
Philippe Roquefort ◽  
Tanguy Haute ◽  
Sophie Ramel ◽  
...  

The respiratory epithelium can be affected by many diseases that could be treated using aerosol gene therapy. Among these, cystic fibrosis (CF) is a lethal inherited disease characterized by airways complications, which determine the life expectancy and the effectiveness of aerosolized treatments. Beside evaluations performed under in vivo settings, cell culture models mimicking in vivo pathophysiological conditions can provide complementary insights into the potential of gene transfer strategies. Such models must consider multiple parameters, following the rationale that proper gene transfer evaluations depend on whether they are performed under experimental conditions close to pathophysiological settings. In addition, the mucus layer, which covers the epithelial cells, constitutes a physical barrier for gene delivery, especially in diseases such as CF. Artificial mucus models featuring physical and biological properties similar to CF mucus allow determining the ability of gene transfer systems to effectively reach the underlying epithelium. In this review, we describe mucus and cellular models relevant for CF aerosol gene therapy, with a particular emphasis on mucus rheology. We strongly believe that combining multiple pathophysiological features in single complex cell culture models could help bridge the gaps between in vitro and in vivo settings, as well as viral and non-viral gene delivery strategies.


1998 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 1593-1599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyun Qing ◽  
Benjawan Khuntirat ◽  
Cathryn Mah ◽  
Dagmar M. Kube ◽  
Xu-Shan Wang ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Although the adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV)-based vector system has gained attention as a potentially useful alternative to the more commonly used retroviral and adenoviral vectors for human gene therapy, the single-stranded nature of the viral genome, and consequently the rate-limiting second-strand viral DNA synthesis, significantly affect its transduction efficiency. We have identified a cellular tyrosine phosphoprotein, designated the single-stranded D sequence-binding protein (ssD-BP), which interacts specifically with the D sequence at the 3′ end of the AAV genome and may prevent viral second-strand DNA synthesis in HeLa cells (K. Y. Qing et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94:10879–10884, 1997). In the present studies, we examined whether the phosphorylation state of the ssD-BP correlates with the ability of AAV to transduce various established and primary cells in vitro and murine tissues in vivo. The efficiencies of transduction of established human cells by a recombinant AAV vector containing the β-galactosidase reporter gene were 293 > KB > HeLa, which did not correlate with the levels of AAV infectivity. However, the amounts of dephosphorylated ssD-BP which interacted with the minus-strand D probe were also as follows: 293 > KB > HeLa. Predominantly the phosphorylated form of the ssD-BP was detected in cells of the K562 line, a human erythroleukemia cell line, and in CD34+ primary human hematopoietic progenitor cells; consequently, the efficiencies of AAV-mediated transgene expression were significantly lower in these cells. Murine Sca-1+ lin − primary hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells contained predominantly the dephosphorylated form of the ssD-BP, and these cells could be efficiently transduced by AAV vectors. Dephosphorylation of the ssD-BP also correlated with expression of the adenovirus E4orf6 protein, known to induce AAV gene expression. A deletion mutation in the E4orf6 gene resulted in a failure to catalyze dephosphorylation of the ssD-BP. Extracts prepared from mouse brain, heart, liver, lung, and skeletal-muscle tissues, all of which are known to be highly permissive for AAV-mediated transgene expression, contained predominantly the dephosphorylated form of the ssD-BP. Thus, the efficiency of transduction by AAV vectors correlates well with the extent of the dephosphorylation state of the ssD-BP in vitro as well as in vivo. These data suggest that further studies on the cellular gene that encodes the ssD-BP may promote the successful use of AAV vectors in human gene therapy.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Landeta ◽  
Adrian Mejia-Santana

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest global health challenges today. For over three decades antibacterial discovery research and development has been focused on cell-based and target-based high throughput assays. Target-based screens use diagnostic enzymatic reactions to look for molecules that can bind directly and inhibit the target. Target-based screens are only applied to proteins that can be successfully expressed, purified and the activity of which can be effectively measured using a biochemical assay. Often times the molecules found in these in vitro screens are not active in cells due to poor permeability or efflux. On the other hand, cell-based screens use whole cells and look for growth inhibition. These screens give higher number of hits than target-based assays and can simultaneously test many targets of one process or pathway in their physiological context. Both strategies have pros and cons when used separately. In the past decade and a half our increasing knowledge of bacterial physiology has led to the development of innovative and sophisticated technologies to perform high throughput screening combining these two strategies and thus minimizing their disadvantages. In this review we discuss recent examples of high throughput approaches that used both target-based and whole-cell screening to find new antibacterials, the new insights they have provided and how this knowledge can be applied to other in vivo validated targets to develop new antimicrobials.


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