重组腺相关病毒生产方法研究进展

重组腺相关病毒(rAAV)作为基因治疗的载体,具有感染范围广、能在宿主细胞中长久稳定表达外源基因和非致病性等优点,因此在基因治疗领域倍受青睐。rAAV的大规模制备技术一直是限制其临床广泛应用的瓶颈。近年来,有许多改进rAAV制备工艺的尝试。我们在介绍rAAV载体制备所需各种元件的基础上,对这些方法进行了简要综述。     

重组腺相关病毒载体临床实验研究

重组腺相关病毒载体 (rAAV)基因药物已经开展六十余项（67）临床研究,其安全、高效、稳定、表达持久等特点越来越受到业界的重视,最近的临床试验发现其在治疗先天性黑内障临床研究中呈现出显著疗效更是极大地振奋了人们的信心。临床研究案例的增加使人们对rAAV基因药物有了更为全面、深入的认识。与此同时,也对基因药物提出了更多挑战与要求,尤其是免疫原性和安全性等方面。     

腺相关病毒的衣壳装配和DNA衣壳化机制

重组腺相关病毒载体 (rAAV) 是基因治疗临床应用载体的选择之一。在简述野生型AAV基因组结构和复制机制的基础上,阐述了AAV包装过程中两个主要事件：衣壳蛋白的装配和基因组DNA的衣壳化。虽然对AAV的包装机制总体上已有一定的认识,但其详细的分子机制、构效关系仍需完善和充实。AAV病毒本身相关机制的深入研究有助于改善rAAV载体的制备技术,促进rAAV基因药物研发。     

Production and purification of serotype 1, 2, and 5 recombinant adeno-associated viral vectors

Recombinant adeno-associated viral (rAAV) vectors based on serotype 2 are currently being evaluated most extensively in animals and human clinical trials. rAAV vectors constructed from other AAV serotypes (serotypes 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6) can transduce certain tissues more efficiently and with different specificity than rAAV2 vectors in animal models. Here, we describe reagents and methods for the production and purification of AAV2 inverted terminal repeat-containing vectors pseudotyped with AAV1 or AAV5 capsids. To facilitate pseudotyping, AAV2rep/AAV1cap and AAV2rep/AAV5cap helper plasmids were constructed in an adenoviral plasmid backbone. The resultant plasmids, pXYZ1 and pXYZ5, were used to produce rAAV1 and rAAV5 vectors, respectively, by transient transfection. Since neither AAV5 nor AAV1 binds to the heparin affinity chromatography resin used to purify rAAV2 vectors, purification protocols were developed based on anion-exchange chromatography. The purified vector stocks are 99% pure with titers of 1 x 10(12) to 1 x 10(13)vector genomes/ml.     

重组腺相关病毒载体的整合性研究进展

重组腺相关病毒(rAAV)载体是一种具有高靶向性和良好安全性的病毒载体,在基因治疗中得到了较为广泛的应用。目前全球范围内已有70余项以rAAV为基因药物的临床研究已经完成或正在进行中。与野生型AAV(wtAAV)定点整合不同,不表达Rep蛋白的rAAV载体与宿主染色体发生的是随机整合,而这给临床应用带来了可能的潜在的安全隐患。该文在综述wtAAV和rAAV整合机理的基础上对rAAV的因随机整合而可能导致的致癌性及其他后果进行探讨,并总结了相应应对策略,特别是目前利用Rep蛋白所开展的定点整合研究。     

Critical challenges and advances in recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) biomanufacturing

Gene therapy is a promising therapeutic approach for genetic and acquired diseases nowadays. Among DNA delivery vectors, recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) is one of the most effective and safest vectors used in commercial drugs and clinical trials. However, the current yield of rAAV biomanufacturing lags behind the necessary dosages for clinical and commercial use, which embodies a concentrated reflection of low productivity of rAAV from host cells, difficult scalability of the rAAV-producing bioprocess, and high levels of impurities materialized during production. Those issues directly impact the price of gene therapy medicine in the market, limiting most patients’ access to gene therapy. In this context, the current practices and several critical challenges associated with rAAV gene therapy bioprocesses are reviewed, followed by a discussion of recent advances in rAAV-mediated gene therapy and other therapeutic biological fields that could improve biomanufacturing if these advances are integrated effectively into the current systems. This review aims to provide the current state-of-the-art technology and perspectives to enhance the productivity of rAAV while reducing impurities during production of rAAV.     

Adeno-associated virus-mediated gene delivery

Several gene delivery vehicles are being developed for somatic gene therapy and each of these vectors has unique properties which makes them appropriate for different human disease applications. Recombinant adeno-associated viral (rAAV) vectors are proving themselves to be safe and efficacious for the long-term expression of proteins and correction of genetic diseases following a single administration. The increasing number of tissues and diseases being targeted with rAAV vectors demonstrates their versatility and has resulted in different approaches for enhancing vector performance. Improving the methods for large-scale manufacturing, and accumulating safety and efficacy data in animals and humans are areas of intense research.     

重组腺相关病毒载体相关性杂质

可以稳定表达治疗基因而无明显不良反应的重组腺相关病毒 (rAAV) 载体被认为是最有发展前景的基因治疗载体。但如何建立可以有效去除rAAV载体内具有潜在致病危害的杂质、产品质量符合临床使用要求的纯化工艺是研究人员面临的巨大挑战。其中针对载体相关性杂质的纯化工艺尤为关键,因为该类杂质的性质与真正的rAAV载体极其相似,一旦存在便难以去除,且会引起严重不良反应。以下总结了该类杂质形成的过程及有别于rAAV载体的特点,并对可以防止其生成或将其与rAAV载体有效分离的技术手段进行了评价。     

重组腺相关病毒包装容量研究进展

在以病毒载体介导的基因治疗研究中,重组腺相关病毒(rAAV)因其疗效和安全性方面的优势,是最有临床应用前景的载体。但其转基因包装容量一般不能超过5.0kb,给需要转导大片段基因的应用带来了困难,限制了rAAV在基因治疗研究中的应用。随着对rAAV细胞转导生物学过程研究的不断深入,发现了一些可以突破rAAV包装容量限制的技术,如反式剪接和同源重组策略,为拓展该载体应用范围提供了可能性。另外,rAAV包装容量限制的特点还可以被用来减少生产过程中具有可复制能力的类病毒杂质的污染,为rAAV的临床安全性提供了保障。     

重组腺相关病毒载体诱导的天然免疫反应及机制

重组腺相关病毒(rAAV)已成为基因治疗领域应用最广泛的载体之一。临床前研究显示其具有很高的安全性,但人体免疫毒性仍是制约其临床疗效的关键,因此有关rAAV免疫机制的研究成为近期热点。尽管天然免疫在获得性免疫反应中发挥重要作用,但与rAAV有关的天然免疫研究过去一直未被重视。直到最近,才确认有至少3种人体细胞(树突状细胞、巨噬细胞和内皮细胞)参与了rAAV的天然免疫,作用机制为可识别载体基因组的TLR9或病毒衣壳TLR2所介导,NF-κB或干扰素调节因子(IRFs)信号通路被激活,导致各种炎性因子及I型干扰素的大量表达。自身互补型rAAV诱导的TLR9依赖性天然免疫较单链rAAV更为强烈。本文重点对近期发现的激活天然免疫反应的宿主与rAAV的相互作用、涉及的信号通路、天然免疫对获得性免疫以及转基因表达的影响进行综述。     

Novel strategy for generation and titration of recombinant adeno-associated virus vectors

Recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors have many advantages for gene therapeutic applications compared with other vector systems. Several methods that use plasmids or helper viruses have been reported for the generation of rAAV vectors. Unfortunately, the preparation of large-scale rAAV stocks is labor-intensive. Moreover, the biological titration of rAAV is still difficult, which may limit its preclinical and clinical applications. For this study, we developed a novel strategy to generate and biologically titrate rAAV vectors. A recombinant pseudorabies virus (PrV) with defects in its gD, gE, and thymidine kinase genes was engineered to express the AAV rep and cap genes, yielding PS virus, which served as a packaging and helper virus for the generation of rAAV vectors. PS virus was useful not only for generating high-titer rAAV vectors by cotransfection with an rAAV vector plasmid, but also for amplifying rAAV stocks. Notably, the biological titration of rAAV vectors was also feasible when cells were coinfected with rAAV and PS virus. Based on this strategy, we produced an rAAV that expresses prothymosin alpha (ProT). Expression of the ProT protein in vitro and in vivo mediated by rAAV/ProT gene transfer was detected by immunohistochemistry and a bioassay. Taken together, our results demonstrate that the PrV vector-based system is useful for generating rAAV vectors carrying various transgenes.     

重组腺相关病毒载体相关性杂质

可以稳定表达治疗基因而无明显不良反应的重组腺相关病毒(rAAV)载体被认为是最有发展前景的基因治疗载体。但如何建立可以有效去除rAAV载体内具有潜在致病危害的杂质、产品质量符合临床使用要求的纯化工艺是研究人员面临的巨大挑战。其中针对载体相关性杂质的纯化工艺尤为关键,因为该类杂质的性质与真正的rAAV载体极其相似,一旦存在便难以去除,且会引起严重不良反应。以下总结了该类杂质形成的过程及有别于rAAV载体的特点,并对可以防止其生成或将其与rAAV载体有效分离的技术手段进行了评价。     

Adeno-associated virus vector genomes persist as episomal chromatin in primate muscle

Recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors are capable of mediating long-term gene expression following administration to skeletal muscle. In rodent muscle, the vector genomes persist in the nucleus in concatemeric episomal forms. Here, we demonstrate with nonhuman primates that rAAV vectors integrate inefficiently into the chromosomes of myocytes and reside predominantly as episomal monomeric and concatemeric circles. The episomal rAAV genomes assimilate into chromatin with a typical nucleosomal pattern. The persistence of the vector genomes and gene expression for years in quiescent tissues suggests that a bona fide chromatin structure is important for episomal maintenance and transgene expression. These findings were obtained from primate muscles transduced with rAAV1 and rAAV8 vectors for up to 22 months after intramuscular delivery of 5 × 10¹² viral genomes/kg. Because of this unique context, our data, which provide important insight into in situ vector biology, are highly relevant from a clinical standpoint.     

表达HCV包膜蛋白的两种重组腺相关病毒疫苗的制备及免疫原性分析

重组腺相关病毒载体(rAAV)可在动物体内高水平地持久表达外源基因,本研究采用两种rAAV载体(rAAV1与rAAV2)构建了表达丙型肝炎病毒中国分离株包膜糖蛋白(E1E2)的载体疫苗并以之免疫小鼠,分别采用免疫荧光证实其表达与总抗体,用HCV假病毒系统检测其中和抗体水平,用ELISpot分析其细胞免疫应答,结果表明:rAAV1-E1E2重组载体疫苗单针免疫激发的体液应答明显高于rAAV2-E1E2,rAAV1-E1E2单针注射后3个月可在肌肉组织中检出E2蛋白表达及特异性T细胞应答。上述结果提示HCV重组腺相关病毒载体疫苗单针免疫可引起明显持久的体液与细胞免疫应答。     

Therapeutic level of functional human alpha 1 antitrypsin (hAAT) secreted from murine muscle transduced by adeno-associated virus (rAAV1) vector

Alpha 1 antitrypsin (AAT) is a serine proteinase inhibitor (serpin). One well-known function of this protein is to inactivate neutrophil elastase and other neutrophil-derived proteinases, and prevent the destruction of pulmonary extracellular matrix. Deficiency of AAT can cause emphysema due to degradation of interstitial elastin by elastase. The majority of circulating AAT is secreted from the liver. Muscle-directed gene therapy using recombinant adeno-associated virus 2 (rAAV2) vectors has been tested to increase the serum levels of AAT. However, inefficient transduction of rAAV2 vector makes it difficult to reach therapeutic levels of AAT in clinical trials and it remains unclear as to whether muscle-secreted AAT is functional. In the present study, we evaluated five serotypes (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) of rAAV vectors for transduction efficiency in mouse muscle. Results from these studies showed that rAAV1 is the most efficient vector among these serotypes and mediated at least 100-fold higher levels of AAT secretion than the rAAV2 vector. Western blot analysis showed that this murine muscle-secreted human AAT (hAAT) formed a complex with human neutrophil elastase in a dose-dependent manner. An anti-elastase activity assay showed that murine muscle-secreted hAAT inhibited elastase with equal capacity as hAAT purified from plasma. These results provide strong support for the functionality of AAT in ongoing clinical studies of muscle-directed AAT gene therapy.     

Novel adeno-associated virus vector vaccine restricts replication of simian immunodeficiency virus in macaques

Gene transfer vectors based on recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) are simple, versatile, and safe. While the conventional applications for rAAV vectors have focused on delivery of therapeutic genes, we have developed the system for delivery of vaccine antigens. In particular, we are interested in generating rAAV vectors for use as a prophylactic human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) vaccine. To that end, we constructed vaccine vectors that expressed genes from the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) for evaluation in the monkey SIV model. After a single intramuscular dose, rAAV/SIV vaccines elicited SIV-specific T cells and antibodies in macaques. Furthermore, immunized animals were able to significantly restrict replication of a live, virulent SIV challenge. These data suggest that rAAV vaccine vectors induced biologically relevant immune responses, and thus, warrant continued development as a viable HIV-1 vaccine candidate.     

C-Reactive Protein (CRP) Is Essential for Efficient Systemic Transduction of Recombinant Adeno-Associated Virus Vector 1 (rAAV-1) and rAAV-6 in Mice

The clinical relevance of gene therapy using the recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors often requires widespread distribution of the vector, and in this case, systemic delivery is the optimal route of administration. Humoral blood factors, such as antibodies or complement, are the first barriers met by the vectors administered systemically. We have found that other blood proteins, galectin 3 binding protein (G3BP) and C-reactive protein (CRP), can interact with different AAV serotypes in a species-specific manner. While interactions of rAAV vectors with G3BP, antibodies, or complement lead to a decrease in vector efficacy, systemic transduction of the CRP-deficient mouse and its respective control clearly established that binding to mouse CRP (mCRP) boosts rAAV vector 1 (rAAV-1) and rAAV-6 transduction efficiency in skeletal muscles over 10 times. Notably, the high efficacy of rAAV-6 in CRP-deficient mice can be restored by reconstitution of the CRP-deficient mouse with mCRP. Human CRP (hCRP) does not interact with either rAAV-1 or rAAV-6, and, consequently, the high efficiency of mCRP-mediated muscle transduction by these serotypes in mice cannot be translated to humans. No interaction of mCRP or hCRP was observed with rAAV-8 and rAAV-9. We show, for the first time, that serum components can significantly enhance rAAV-mediated tissue transduction in a serotype- and species-specific manner. Bioprocessing in body fluids should be considered when transfer of a preclinical proof of concept for AAV-based gene therapy to humans is planned.     

Adeno-associated viral vectors for gene transfer and gene therapy.

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) is a defective, non-pathogenic human parvovirus that depends for growth on coinfection with a helper adenovirus or herpes virus. Recombinant adeno-associated viruses (rAAVs) have attracted considerable interest as vectors for gene therapy. In contrast to other gene delivery systems, rAAVs lack all viral genes and show long-term gene expression in vivo without immune response or toxicity. Over the past few years, many applications of rAAVs as therapeutic agents have demonstrated the utility of this vector system for long-lasting genetic modification and gene therapy in preclinical models of human disease. New production methods have increased rAAV vector titers and eliminated contamination by adenovirus. In addition, vectors for regulatable gene expression and vectors retargeted to different cells have been engineered. These advancements are expected to accelerate and facilitate further animal model studies, providing validation for use of rAAVs in human clinical trials.     

Molecular design for recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vector production

Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - Recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors are increasingly popular tools for gene therapy applications. Their non-pathogenic status, low...