Rabies Virus Envelope Glycoprotein Targets Lentiviral Vectors to the Axonal Retrograde Pathway in Motor Neurons

Rabies pseudotyped lentiviral vectors have great potential in gene therapy, not least because of their ability to transduce neurons following their distal axonal application. However, very little is known about the molecular processes that underlie their retrograde transport and cell transduction. Using multiple labeling techniques and confocal microscopy, we demonstrated that pseudotyping with rabies virus envelope glycoprotein (RV-G) enabled the axonal retrograde transport of two distinct subtypes of lentiviral vector in motor neuron cultures. Analysis of this process revealed that these vectors trafficked through Rab5-positive endosomes and accumulated within a non-acidic Rab7 compartment. RV-G pseudotyped vectors were co-transported with both the tetanus neurotoxin-binding fragment and the membrane proteins thought to mediate rabies virus endocytosis (neural cell adhesion molecule, nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, and p75 neurotrophin receptor), thus demonstrating that pseudotyping with RV-G targets lentiviral vectors for transport along the same pathway exploited by several toxins and viruses. Using motor neurons cultured in compartmentalized chambers, we demonstrated that axonal retrograde transport of these vectors was rapid and efficient; however, it was not able to transduce the targeted neurons efficiently, suggesting that impairment in processes occurring after arrival of the viral vector in the soma is responsible for the low transduction efficiency seen in vivo, which suggests a novel area for improvement of gene therapy vectors.     

利用CRISPR/Cas9技术建立敲除JAK2基因K562细胞系

目的:利用CRISPR/Cas9技术对K562细胞系JAK2基因进行编辑,构建JAK2基因敲除的K562细胞系。方法:使用CRISPR在线设计工具,针对JAK2基因设计sgRNA,构建Cas9-sgRNA共表达质粒。使用第二代慢病毒包装系统包装慢病毒并感染K562细胞,提取细胞基因组DNA,Sanger测序和TA克隆检测基因编辑活性。无限稀释法将编辑阳性的细胞接种于96孔板并扩培得到单克隆细胞株,提取基因组DNA,Sanger测序和TA克隆分析敲除JAK2单克隆细胞的基因型。结果:成功构建靶向敲除JAK2基因的lentiCRISPRv2-sgRNA3-1质粒。优化方案得到低细胞毒性高转染效率的感染K562细胞慢病毒量。CRISPR/Cas9系统成功在JAK2基因sgRNA3-1识别位点发挥基因组编辑活性,获得纯合敲除JAK2基因细胞株K562-JAK2~(-/-)(两个等位分别发生移码突变,预期编码没有功能的JAK2蛋白)。结论:CRIAPR/Cas9系统通过慢病毒感染方式获得JAK2基因纯合敲除的K562细胞株,该细胞模型可用于研究在慢性髓系白血病中JAK2基因的作用,为构建K562敲除其他基因细胞系提供实验依据,为探究造血分化机制的研究奠定实验基础。     

人Semaphorin 4D慢病毒载体的构建及鉴定

目的:构建并制备能够有效表达Semaphorin 4D的重组慢病毒。方法:从人急性T细胞白血病Jurkat细胞DNA 扩增人Semaphorin 4D基因,克隆至pWPI GW慢病毒载体上,与pVSVG及pSPAX质粒共转染人胚肾293T细胞,包装出重组慢病毒,将纯化后的重组病毒直接感染293T和HUVEC细胞,通过免疫印迹、免疫荧光染色和血管内皮细胞迁移分析等方法检测Semaphorin 4D的表达和诱导血管内皮细胞迁移的作用。结果: 重组慢病毒介导Semaphorin 4D在293T和HUVEC内获得表达,能介导血管内皮细胞迁移。结论:成功构建了表达Semaphorin 4D的重组慢病毒载体。     

慢病毒介导的c-Myc启动子结合蛋白1过表达对结肠癌HCT116细胞增殖与凋亡的影响及其机制研究

目的探讨慢病毒介导的c-Myc启动子结合蛋白1(MBP-1)过表达对结肠癌HCT116细胞增殖和凋亡的影响及其机制。方法将体外培养的HCT116细胞分为以下3组:空白对照组,细胞未做任何处理;空载感染组,空载体对照慢病毒(LV-GFP)感染HCT116细胞;MBP-1过表达慢病毒组(MBP-1组),MBP-1过表达的重组慢病毒(LV-MBP-1-GFP)感染HCT116细胞。RT-PCR检测各组细胞中MBP-1 mRNA的表达,CCK-8实验检测细胞的增殖能力,流式细胞仪检测细胞的周期变化,Western blot检测细胞中MBP-1、NF-κB p65、c-Myc、CyclinD1及细胞凋亡相关蛋白Bcl-2、Bax、cleaved caspase-3的表达。三组间比较采用单因素方差分析,方差齐性采用F检验,若方差齐则组间比较采用LSD检验,若方差不齐则组间比较采用Dunnett检验。结果与空载感染组比较,MBP-1组在MBP-1 mRNA(1.02±0.15比4.56±1.03)、蛋白表达水平(0.18±0.01比0.72±0.10)、S期百分比[(39.12±2.18)﹪比(45.64±3.21)﹪]、G2/M期的百分比[(14.81±1.02)﹪比(23.16±2.12)﹪]、细胞中Bax蛋白(0.55±0.10比0.76±0.11)、cleaved caspase-3蛋白(0.45±0.08比0.81±0.11)表达水平均升高,差异具有统计学意义(P均<0.001),而细胞48 h OD值(0.58±0.08比0.43±0.03)、72 h OD值(1.10±0.13比0.52±0.09)、细胞G0/G1期的百分比[(46.06±1.89)﹪比(31.36±2.02)﹪]、细胞中Bcl-2蛋白(0.52±0.10比0.23±0.02)、NF-κB p65蛋白(0.61±0.13比0.16±0.03)、c-Myc蛋白(0.79±0.15比0.43±0.05)、CyclinD1蛋白(0.62±0.09比0.32±0.01)的表达水平均降低,差异具有统计学意义(P均<0.001);空白对照组和空载感染组之间各指标差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。结论MBP-1过表达可抑制HCT116细胞增殖及诱导细胞周期阻滞于S期,其作用机制可能与抑制NF-κB信号通路活化有关。     

Etk敲除及过表达细胞株构建并探讨Etk对细胞增殖的影响

目的:利用CRISPR-Cas9技术在人脐静脉内皮细胞(Human umbilical vein endothelial cells,HUVECs)中构建Etk(Epithelial and endothelial tyrosine kinase)敲除稳定细胞株以及利用慢病毒构建Etk过表达稳定细胞株,并初步探讨Etk基因对HUVECs细胞增殖的影响。方法:利用CRISPR-Cas9技术,使用在线工具设计针对Etk的sgRNA (https://chopchop.rc.fas.harvard.edu/)。将sgRNA利用连接酶整合到病毒载体中,包被病毒并感染HUVECs敲除HUVECs中的内源性Etk。利用嘌呤霉素筛选得到Etk敲除的稳定细胞株。PCR扩增Etk基因序列,将其整合到pLEX-MCS慢病毒过表达载体中构建Etk过表达重组质粒。包被病毒并感染HUVECs,在HUVECs中过表达Etk,利用嘌呤霉素筛选得到Etk过表达的稳定细胞株。利用qRT-PCR和Western-Blotting检测Etk的敲除和过表达情况。利用CCK-8盒子检测两种稳定细胞株细胞增殖情况。结果:利用CRISPR-Cas9技术有效的敲除HUVECs中内源性Etk,同对照相比,Etk的mRNA和蛋白水平显著地降低(P0.01)。同时利用慢病毒在HUVECs中过表达Etk,同对照相比,在过表达Etk稳定细胞株中Etk的mRNA和蛋白表达显著上调(P0.01)。CCK-8检测发现,Etk敲除降低细胞增殖能力;而Etk过表达增加细胞增殖能力。结论:通过CRISPR-Cas9技术成功在HUVECs中敲除Etk,利用慢病毒过表达系统成功的在HUVECs中过表达Etk,并且初步验证了Etk促进HUVECs细胞增殖。     

Cellular protein TTRAP interacts with HIV-1 integrase to facilitate viral integration

TTRAP is a PML-NB protein that is involved in the NF-κB signaling pathway. TTRAP was recently identified by yeast two-hybrid analysis as a HIV-1 integrase (HIV-1 IN) interacting protein. This interaction was verified by co-immunoprecipitation, GST pull-down, and intracellular imaging, and deletion assays suggested that the N-terminal 180 residues of TTRAP are responsible for the interaction. In stable TTRAP knock-down cell lines, the integration of viral vectors decreased significantly compared with non-silenced cell lines. Conversely, overexpression of TTRAP by transient transfection increased the percentage of integration events. This is the first time that TTRAP has been shown to interact with HIV-1 IN and facilitate lentiviral vector integration. These findings reveal a new function of TTRAP and expand our understanding of the cellular response to HIV infection. The interaction between TTRAP and HIV-1 IN may be useful in designing new anti-viral strategies as well as for improving the efficiency of lentiviral-vector-mediated gene delivery.     

Silencing of Cav1.2 gene in neonatal cardiomyocytes by lentiviral delivered shRNA

Cav1.2 (α_1C) and Cav1.3 (α_1D) L-type Ca channels are co-expressed in the heart. To date, there are no pharmacological or biophysical tools to separate α_1D from α_1C Ca currents (I_Ca-L) in cardiomyocytes. Here, we established a physiological model to study α_1D I_Ca-L in native myocytes using RNA interference. Transfection of rat neonatal cardiomyocytes (RNC) with α_1C specific siRNA resulted in low silencing efficiency (50-60%) at the mRNA and protein levels. The use of lentivirus shRNA resulted in 100% transfection efficiency and 92% silencing of the α_1C gene by real-time PCR and Western blot. Electrophysiological experiments showed that the total I_Ca-L was similarly reduced by 80% in lentivirus transfected cells. Both biochemical and functional data demonstrated high transfection and silencing efficiency in the cardiomyocytes using lentiviral shRNA. This novel approach allows for the assessments of the roles of α_1C and α_1D Ca channels in native myocytes and could be used to examine their roles in physiological and pathological settings.     

Targeted gene delivery to CD117‐expressing cells in vivo with lentiviral vectors co‐displaying stem cell factor and a fusogenic molecule

The development of a lentiviral system to deliver genes to specific cell types could improve the safety and the efficacy of gene delivery. Previously, we have developed an efficient method to target lentivectors to specific cells via an antibody–antigen interaction in vitro and in vivo. We report herein a targeted lentivector that harnesses the natural ligand–receptor recognition mechanism for targeted modification of c‐KIT receptor‐expressing cells. For targeting, we incorporate membrane‐bound human stem cell factor (hSCF), and for fusion, a Sindbis virus‐derived fusogenic molecule (FM) onto the lentiviral surface. These engineered vectors can recognize cells expressing surface CD117, resulting in efficient targeted transduction of cells in an SCF‐receptor dependent manner in vitro, and in vivo in xenografted mouse models. This study expands the ability of targeting lentivectors beyond antibody targets to include cell‐specific surface receptors. Development of a high titer lentivector to receptor‐specific cells is an attractive approach to restrict gene expression and could potentially ensure therapeutic effects in the desired cells while limiting side effects caused by gene expression in non‐target cells. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2009; 104: 206–215 © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

MAC-T Cells as a Tool to Evaluate Lentiviral Vector Construction Targeting Recombinant Protein Expression in Milk

Prior to generating transgenic animals for bioreactors, it is important to evaluate the vector constructed to avoid poor protein expression. Mammary epithelial cells cultured in vitro have been proposed as a model to reproduce the biology of the mammary gland. In the present work, three lentiviral vectors were constructed for the human growth hormone (GH), interleukin 2 (IL2), and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor 3 (CSF3) genes driven by the bovine β-casein promoter. The lentiviruses were used to transduce mammary epithelial cells (MAC-T), and the transformed cells were cultured on polystyrene in culture medium with and without prolactin. The gene expression of transgenes was evaluated by PCR using cDNA, and recombinant protein expression was evaluated by Western-blotting using concentrated medium and cellular extracts. The gene expression, of the three introduced genes, was detected in both induced and non induced MAC-T cells. The human GH protein was detected in the concentrated medium, whereas CSF3 was detected in the cellular extract. Apparently, the cellular extract is more appropriate than the concentrated medium to detect recombinant protein, principally because concentrated medium has a high concentration of bovine serum albumin. The results suggest that MAC-T cells may be a good system to evaluate vector construction targeting recombinant protein expression in milk.     

Generation of Myospheres From hESCs by Epigenetic Reprogramming

Generation of a homogeneous and abundant population of skeletal muscle cells from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) is a requirement for cell-based therapies and for a "disease in a dish" model of human neuromuscular diseases. Major hurdles, such as low abundance and heterogeneity of the population of interest, as well as a lack of protocols for the formation of three-dimensional contractile structures, have limited the applications of stem cells for neuromuscular disorders. We have designed a protocol that overcomes these limits by ectopic introduction of defined factors in hESCs - the muscle determination factor MyoD and SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex component BAF60C - that are able to reprogram hESCs into skeletal muscle cells. Here we describe the protocol established to generate hESC-derived myoblasts and promote their clustering into tridimensional miniaturized structures (myospheres) that functionally mimic miniaturized skeletal muscles⁷.