人类人工染色体构建及其作为基因载体的价值

人类人工染色体（ＨＡＣ）作为基因载体将解决基因治疗存在的一些关键问题。本文探讨了在不完全了解着丝粒、复制起始点、端粒等人类以体基本功能单位的情况下构建ＨＡＣ的三种策略。利用染色体基本功能单位在细胞内构建成功的第一代ＨＡＣ,解决了ＨＡＣ构建的一些难题,同时也带来了某些新的问题。ＨＡＣ作为基因治疗载体具有很多优势,但第一代ＨＡＣ离它作为基因治疗载体还相距很远．为此,作者正在进行解决这些问题的尝试。     

人类人工染色体的构建策略

目前各种应用于基因治疗领域的载体均存在一定的局限性。越来越多的研究认为,最理想的基因治疗载体应该在染色体的结构基础上构建,使目的基因整合舌能够作为独立的功能单位表达,或成为游离基因而稳定存在。人类人工染色体(human artificial chromosome,HAC)的出现,使这种设想成为可能。近年来,研究们基于两种基本策略相继构建多种HAC,并以之作为载体进行了一系列外源性基因表达研究,尽管还有许多问题亟待解决,但并不妨碍人们对之成为理想的基因治疗载体寄予厚望。     

人类人工染色体作为转基因载体的应用前景

自1997年首次成功构建人类人工染色体(human artificial chromosome,HAC)以来,对其理论、方法学问题的研究一直就是人们关注的焦点,并引起了科学家们的极大兴趣,目前已能采用不同的方法获得多种类型的HAC。与酵母人工染色体（YAC）、细菌人工染色体（BAC）等相比,HAC不整合到细胞的基因组中,以一个独立的功能性染色体单位而存在,并在细胞中进行正常的有丝分裂和减数分裂。迄今的研究表明：HAC可以携带大片段基因组DNA,是研究人类基因表达和调控、染色体功能基本单元的重要工具,也是建立HAC动物模型的重要手段。在未来的基因治疗方面有着广阔的应用前景。     

人工染色体研究进展

人工染色体是人工构建的含有天然染色体基本功能单位的载体系统总称。人工染色体是非常优良的载体,具有超大的接受外源片段能力。由于不用整合到宿主基因组中,因此不会引起宿主基因的插入失活,及抑制转基因表达的位置效应。人工染色体已经从最初的酵母人工染色体(Yeast artificial chromosome,YAC)发展到细菌人工染色体(Bacterial artificial chromosome,BAC),再扩展到人类人工染色体(Human artificial chromosome,HAC)和植物人工染色体(Plant artificial chromosome,PAC)。文章就这4种人工染色体,尤其是植物人工染色体的研究进展和应用局限进行综述。目前,YAC和BAC已经广泛应用于基因组图谱制作、序列测定和基因克隆;HAC和PAC在基因治疗、外源医用蛋白的生产、新型优质高产高抗转基因作物构建中显现出广阔的应用前景。随着合成生物学的高速发展,美国科学家报道合成了一个"人造生命"。但是,和人工染色体一样,所谓的"人造生命",都是应用最新的基因工程技术,将不同的生命基础元件拼接组装而成,脱离了细胞环境并不能够自由存在。     

人工染色体

着丝粒、端粒和复制起点是保持染色体在有丝分裂时稳定性的重要组分,利用酵母染色体的这些组分,1983年人们首次成功地构建了酵母人工染色体（YAC）.此后,生物学家对于构建以人类为代表的哺乳动物的人工染色体产生了极大的兴趣,并于1997年成功地构建了第一条人类人工染色体（HAC）.人工染色体具有极其重要的理论和实际意义,不仅可以作为研究必需组分的基础,还为基因治疗开辟了一条新的途径.目前,人们正致力于人工染色体的实际应用的研究,并期望在包括绿色植物的更多物种中构建人工染色体,前景十分广阔.     

产生人抗体的转染色体动物研究进展

现已证明,应用抗体治疗疾病是一种非常成功的方法。单克隆抗体的生产使免疫治疗达到一个新水平,但鼠源单抗在治疗人体疾病方面有很多问题,而人源化抗体可以解决这些问题。目前抗体人源化已由鼠嵌合抗体发展到了转基因动物表达完全人抗体阶段,而人类人工染色体(HAC)载体的发展和微细胞介导的转染色体技术使得产生携带人类免疫球蛋白基因位点的转染色体动物成为可能。通过HAC将人的免疫球蛋白基因转入后,这类转染色体动物可以产生大量人源化多克隆抗体,这对预防及治疗疾病,甚至防御生物武器都有很重要的作用。转染色体技术可以使动物携带大而复杂的人类基因或基因簇,这些转基因动物有助于研究人类基因组在体内的功能作用,并用于各种疾病研究和生产药物蛋白。     

脾伴随病毒2型作为基因治疗载体研究的进展

应用腺伴随病毒（ＡＡＶ）作基因治疗载体的研究取得了很大进展。与其他病毒载体比较,ＡＡＶ载体具有不致病,在宿主染色体上有较特异的整合位点,宿主范围广泛,可感染非分裂细胞,无致癌性等优点,随着对重组病毒载体构建,载体在染色体上整合机制,外源基因表达调控以及该病毒安全性的深入研究,可望作为一种较为理想的病毒载体用于基因治疗。     

腺病毒载体的应用及进展

腺病毒载体是近年来继逆转录病毒载体之后被广泛应用的一个基因运载系统。它具有宿主细胞广泛、繁殖滴度高、不整合及相对安全等特点,在基因治疗中发挥越来越大的作用。本介绍了Ｅ１区缺失为特征的第一代腺病毒载体应用的有效性、安全性等方面的研究情况,和旨在克服第一代腺病毒载体不足的第二代载体构建方面的进展。     

条件复制腺病毒的构建

条件复制腺病毒是针对第一代复制缺陷型腺病毒在临床应用中存在的问题而构建的能在肿瘤细胞特异复制的基因治疗载体。该从其构建机制、构建方式及效力评价等方面论述了为实现特异性高效复制所应考虑的诸多方面的问题,如特异性启动子的选择,基因重组方案的设计,以及相应的效力评价体系的构建等。     

基因治疗用质粒DNA生产面临的问题及研究进展

基因治疗已成为21世纪一些重大疾病的有效治疗策略,目前携带治疗基因的重组质粒已作为基因药物进入临床研究。对用于基因治疗的生物制品的生产与质量控制都有相当严格的要求。虽然已建立大规模符合药学规格的质粒DNA生产工艺,能满足临床需求,但在这些生产工艺中还存在一些难以克服的瓶颈,如:载体构建、细胞裂解、细菌染色体DNA去除、细菌内毒素去除、生产过程中质量控制等。就近年来大规模生产临床用质粒DNA遇到的相关问题及解决方案作一综述。     

Antigen-mediated growth control of hybridoma cells via a human artificial chromosome

Human artificial chromosome (HAC) vectors possess several characteristics sufficient for the requirements of gene therapy vectors, including stable episomal maintenance and mediation of long-term transgene expression. In this study, we adopted an antigen-mediated genetically modified cell amplification (AMEGA) system employing an antibody/cytokine receptor chimera that triggers a growth signal in response to a cognate non-toxic antigen, and applied it to growth control of HAC-transferred cells by adding an antigen that differed from cytokines that may manifest pleiotropic effects. We previously constructed a novel HAC vector, 21 Delta qHAC, derived from human chromosome 21, housed in CHO cells. Here, we constructed an HAC vector harboring an ScFv-gp130 chimera responsive to fluorescein-conjugated BSA (BSA-FL) as well as a model transgene, enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP), in CHO cells. The modified HAC was transferred into interleukin (IL)-6-dependent hybridoma 7TD1 cells by microcell-mediated chromosome transfer, and the cells were subsequently found to show BSA-FL-dependent cell growth and sustained expression of EGFP in the absence of IL-6. The AMEGA system in combination with HAC technology will be useful for increasing the efficacy of gene therapy by conferring a growth advantage on the genetically modified cells.     

Construction of a novel human artificial chromosome vector for gene delivery

Potential problems of conventional transgenes include insertional disruption of the host genome and unpredictable, irreproducible expression of the transgene by random integration. Alternatively, human artificial chromosomes (HACs) can circumvent some of the problems. Although several HACs were generated and their mitotic stability was assessed, a practical way for introducing exogenous genes by the HACs has yet to be explored. In this study, we developed a novel HAC from sequence-ready human chromosome 21 by telomere-directed chromosome truncation and added a loxP sequence for site-specific insertion of circular DNA by the Cre/loxP system. This 21HAC vector, delivered to a human cell line HT1080 by microcell fusion, bound centromere proteins A, B, and C and was mitotically stable during long-term culture without selection. The EGFP gene inserted in the HAC vector expressed persistently. These results suggest that the HAC vector provides useful system for functional studies of genes in isogenic cell lines.     

A method for producing transgenic cells using a multi-integrase system on a human artificial chromosome vector

The production of cells capable of expressing gene(s) of interest is important for a variety of applications in biomedicine and biotechnology, including gene therapy and animal transgenesis. The ability to insert transgenes at a precise location in the genome, using site-specific recombinases such as Cre, FLP, and ΦC31, has major benefits for the efficiency of transgenesis. Recent work on integrases from ΦC31, R4, TP901-1 and Bxb1 phages demonstrated that these recombinases catalyze site-specific recombination in mammalian cells. In the present study, we examined the activities of integrases on site-specific recombination and gene expression in mammalian cells. We designed a human artificial chromosome (HAC) vector containing five recombination sites (ΦC31 attP, R4 attP, TP901-1 attP, Bxb1 attP and FRT; multi-integrase HAC vector) and de novo mammalian codon-optimized integrases. The multi-integrase HAC vector has several functions, including gene integration in a precise locus and avoiding genomic position effects; therefore, it was used as a platform to investigate integrase activities. Integrases carried out site-specific recombination at frequencies ranging from 39.3-96.8%. Additionally, we observed homogenous gene expression in 77.3-87.5% of colonies obtained using the multi-integrase HAC vector. This vector is also transferable to another cell line, and is capable of accepting genes of interest in this environment. These data suggest that integrases have high DNA recombination efficiencies in mammalian cells. The multi-integrase HAC vector enables us to produce transgene-expressing cells efficiently and create platform cell lines for gene expression.     

A novel human artificial chromosome gene expression system using herpes simplex virus type 1 vectors

Human artificial chromosome (HAC) vectors are an important gene transfer system for expression and complementation studies. We describe a significant advance in HAC technology using infectious herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) amplicon vectors for delivery. This highly efficient method has allowed gene-expressing HACs to be established in glioma-, kidney- and lung-derived cells. We also developed an HSV-1 hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) HAC vector, which generated functional HPRT-expressing HACs that complemented the genetic deficiency in human cells. The transduction efficiency of the HSV-1 HAC amplicons is several orders of magnitude higher than lipofection-mediated delivery. Studies on HAC stability between cell types showed important differences that have implications for HAC development and gene expression in human cells. This is the first report of establishing gene-expressing HACs in human cells by using an efficient, high-capacity viral vector and by identifying factors that are involved in cell-type-specific HAC instability. The work is a significant advance for HAC technology and the development of HAC gene expression systems in human cells.     

Human Artificial Chromosome with a Conditional Centromere for Gene Delivery and Gene Expression

Human artificial chromosomes (HACs), which carry a fully functional centromere and are maintained as a single-copy episome, are not associated with random mutagenesis and offer greater control over expression of ectopic genes on the HAC. Recently, we generated a HAC with a conditional centromere, which includes the tetracycline operator (tet-O) sequence embedded in the alphoid DNA array. This conditional centromere can be inactivated, loss of the alphoid^tet-O (tet-O HAC) by expression of tet-repressor fusion proteins. In this report, we describe adaptation of the tet-O HAC vector for gene delivery and gene expression in human cells. A loxP cassette was inserted into the tet-O HAC by homologous recombination in chicken DT40 cells following a microcell-mediated chromosome transfer (MMCT). The tet-O HAC with the loxP cassette was then transferred into Chinese hamster ovary cells, and EGFP transgene was efficiently and accurately incorporated into the tet-O HAC vector. The EGFP transgene was stably expressed in human cells after transfer via MMCT. Because the transgenes inserted on the tet-O HAC can be eliminated from cells by HAC loss due to centromere inactivation, this HAC vector system provides important novel features and has potential applications for gene expression studies and gene therapy.     

Re-engineering an alphoidtetO-HAC-based vector to enable high-throughput analyses of gene function

Human artificial chromosome (HAC)-based vectors represent an alternative technology for gene delivery and expression with a potential to overcome the problems caused by the use of viral-based vectors. The recently developed alphoid^tetO-HAC has an advantage over other HAC vectors because it can be easily eliminated from cells by inactivation of the HAC kinetochore via binding of tTS chromatin modifiers to its centromeric tetO sequences. This provides unique control for phenotypes induced by genes loaded into the alphoid^tetO-HAC. However, inactivation of the HAC kinetochore requires transfection of cells by a retrovirus vector, a step that is potentially mutagenic. Here, we describe an approach to re-engineering the alphoid^tetO-HAC that allows verification of phenotypic changes attributed to expression of genes from the HAC without a transfection step. In the new HAC vector, a tTS-EYFP cassette is inserted into a gene-loading site along with a gene of interest. Expression of the tTS generates a self-regulating fluctuating heterochromatin on the alphoid^tetO-HAC that induces fast silencing of the genes on the HAC without significant effects on HAC segregation. This silencing of the HAC-encoded genes can be readily recovered by adding doxycycline. The newly modified alphoid^tetO-HAC-based system has multiple applications in gene function studies.     

Generation of a conditionally self-eliminating HAC gene delivery vector through incorporation of a tTAVP64 expression cassette

Human artificial chromosome (HAC)-based vectors represent an alternative technology for gene delivery and expression with a potential to overcome the problems caused by virus-based vectors. The recently developed alphoid^tetO-HAC has an advantage over other HAC vectors because it can be easily eliminated from cells by inactivation of the HAC kinetochore via binding of chromatin modifiers, tTA or tTS, to its centromeric tetO sequences. This provides a unique control for phenotypes induced by genes loaded into the HAC. The alphoid^tetO-HAC elimination is highly efficient when a high level of chromatin modifiers as tetR fusion proteins is achieved following transfection of cells by a retrovirus vector. However, such vectors are potentially mutagenic and might want to be avoided under some circumstances. Here, we describe a novel system that allows verification of phenotypic changes attributed to expression of genes from the HAC without a transfection step. We demonstrated that a single copy of tTA^VP64 carrying four tandem repeats of the VP16 domain constitutively expressed from the HAC is capable to generate chromatin changes in the HAC kinetochore that are not compatible with its function. To adopt the alphoid^tetO-HAC for routine gene function studies, we constructed a new TAR-BRV- tTA^VP64 cloning vector that allows a selective isolation of a gene of interest from genomic DNA in yeast followed by its direct transfer to bacterial cells and subsequent loading into the loxP site of the alphoid^tetO-HAC in hamster CHO cells from where the HAC may be MMCT-transferred to the recipient human cells.