Structure -activity relationships of PDE5 inhibitors.

cGMP has a short-term effect on smooth muscle tone and a longer-term effect on responses to chronic drug treatment or proliferative signals. cGMP-Phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) hydrolizes cGMP, and the result is smooth muscle contraction. PDE5 is a relatively novel therapeutic target of various diseases, such as erectile dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension. The most intensively examined and marketed PDE5 inhibitor was sildenafil (Viagra) but recently vardenafil (Levitra) and tadalafil (Cialis) were launched with beneficial ADME parameters and PDE5 selectivity. The increasing interest in PDE5 inhibition made it reasonable to collect the available inhibitory data from the scientific literature and set up a structure-activity relationship study. Chemical structures of 438 compounds and their cGMP-PDE5 inhibitory data (IC50) were collected from recently published articles. In this paper physiology, regulation and inhibition of PDE5 (and briefly other PDE-s) are discussed and inhibitors are tabulated by the core structures. Finally, a general QSAR model built from these data is presented. All data used in the QSAR study were summarized in a Supplement (for description please see the online version of the article).

Methods for syntheses of N-methyl-DL-aspartic acid derivatives.

A novel practical method for the synthesis of N-methyl-DL-aspartic acid 1 (NMA) and new syntheses for N-methyl-aspartic acid derivatives are described. NMA 1, the natural amino acid was synthesized by Michael addition of methylamine to dimethyl fumarate 5. Fumaric or maleic acid mono-ester and -amide were regioselectively transformed into beta-substituted aspartic acid derivatives. In the cases of maleamic 11a or fumaramic esters 11b, the alpha-amide derivative 13 was formed, but hydrolysis of the product provided N-methyl-DL-asparagine 9 via base catalyzed ring closure to DL-alpha-methylamino-succinimide 4, followed by selective ring opening. Efficient methods were developed for the preparation of NMA-alpha-amide 13 from unprotected NMA via sulphinamide anhydride 15 and aspartic anhydride 3 intermediate products. NMA diamide 16 was prepared from NMA dimethyl ester 6 and methylamino-succinimide 4 by ammonolysis. Temperature-dependent side reactions of methylamino-succinimide 4 led to diazocinone 18, resulted from self-condensation of methylamino-succinimide via nucleophyl ring opening and the subsequent ring-transformation.

Prediction oriented QSAR modelling of EGFR inhibition.

Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) is a high priority target in anticancer drug research. Thousands of very effective EGFR inhibitors have been developed in the last decade. The known inhibitors are originated from a very diverse chemical space but--without exception--all of them act at the Adenosine TriPhosphate (ATP) binding site of the enzyme. We have collected all of the diverse inhibitor structures and the relevant biological data obtained from comparable assays and built prediction oriented Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) which models the ATP binding pocket's interactive surface from the ligand side. We describe a QSAR method with automatic Variable Subset Selection (VSS) by Genetic Algorithm (GA) and goodness-of-prediction driven QSAR model building, resulting an externally validated EGFR inhibitory model built from pIC50 values of a diverse structural set of 623 EGFR inhibitors. Repeated Trainings/Evaluations (RTE) were used to obtain model fitness values and the effectiveness of VSS is amplified by using predictive ability scores of descriptors. Numerous models were generated by different methods and viable models were collected. Then, intensive RTE were applied to identify ultimate models for external validations. Finally, suitable models were validated by statistical tests. Since we use calculated molecular descriptors in the modeling, these models are suitable for virtual screening for obtaining novel potential EGFR inhibitors.

Muscle stem cells can act as antigen-presenting cells: implication for gene therapy.

Research has shown that the use of a muscle-specific promoter can reduce immune response and improve gene transfer to muscle fibers. We investigated the efficiency of direct and ex vivo gene transfer to the skeletal muscles of 6- to 8-week-old mdx mice by using two adenoviral vectors: adenovirus (AD) encoding the luciferase gene under the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter (ADCMV) and AD encoding the same gene under the muscle creatine kinase (MCK) promoter (ADMCK). Direct intramuscular injection of ADMCK triggered a lower immune response that enabled more efficient delivery and more persistent expression of the transgene than did ADCMV injection. Similarly, ex vivo gene transfer using ADCMV-transduced muscle-derived stem cells (MDSCs) induced a stronger immune response and led to shorter transgene expression than did ex vivo gene transfer using ADMCK-transduced MDSCs. This immune response was due to the release of the antigen after MDSC death or to the ADCMV-transduced MDSCs acting as antigen-presenting cells (APCs) by expressing the transgene and rapidly initiating an immune response against subsequent viral inoculation. The use of a muscle-specific promoter that restricts transgene expression to differentiated muscle cells could prevent MDSCs from becoming APCs, and thereby could improve the efficiency of ex vivo gene transfer to skeletal muscle.

Increased revascularization efficacy after administration of an adenovirus encoding VEGF(121).

Adenovirus-mediated VEGF gene delivery is being evaluated in clinical trials as a treatment for patients with vascular diseases that stem from ischemia, such as diffuse coronary artery disease and peripheral vascular disease. Although adenoviral vectors are one of the most widely utilized vectors to deliver therapeutic genes to cells, they also have a major limitation in that their inherent immunogenicity leads to the production of neutralizing antibodies that block effective repeat administration. Although this may be true of intravenous, intranasal, and other routes of administration, recent studies have indicated that it may be possible to effectively readminister adenovirus to skeletal muscle. The present study found improved efficacy after administration of AdVEGF(121.10), an E1/E3-deleted adenovirus encoding human VEGF(121) under the control of a CMV promoter in a rat hindlimb ischemia model. As expected, repeat administration of adenovirus resulted in a marked increase of circulating neutralizing antibody, yet nanogram quantities of VEGF protein were still detectable within the hindlimb skeletal muscle after a second administration of vector. The amount of VEGF protein produced after repeat administration translated into improved efficacy as evidenced by increased blood flow as measured by laser Doppler, increased vessel number upon post-mortem angiography, and an increased number of CD31-positive vessels. These findings have important implications for increasing the efficacy of adenovirus-mediated gene therapy in the treatment of peripheral vascular disease and coronary artery disease.

Development of an Ad7 cosmid system and generation of an Ad7deltaE1deltaE3HIV(MN) env/rev recombinant virus.

A strategy to circumvent immune responses to adenovirus (Ad) resulting from natural infection or repeated vector administrations involves sequential use of vectors from different Ad serotypes. To further develop an Ad-HIV recombinant AIDS vaccine approach, a replication-defective recombinant Ad from a non-subgroup C virus was required. Using a cosmid system, we generated an Ad7deltaE1deltaE3HIV(MN) env/rev recombinant virus and compared expression of the inserted HIV genes with a similarly constructed replication-competent Ad7deltaE3HIV(MN)env/rev recombinant. Ad7deltaE1deltaE3HIV(MN)env/rev expressed both HIV env and rev gene products. The envelope protein was correctly processed and functional, mediating syncytia formation of Ad7deltaE1deltaE3HIV(MN) env/rev-infected cells and CD4(+) T lymphocytes. Ad7deltaE1deltaE3HIV(MN)env/rev could be amplified on 293-ORF6 cells, containing the E4 ORF6 gene, shown earlier to support production of an Ad7 vector lacking the E1a gene. The utility of this cell line is now extended to the production of replication-defective Ad7 recombinants lacking E1a, E1b, and protein IX genes. Sequential immunizations with Ad-HIV recombinants based in different Ad serotypes have been shown to effectively elicit both humoral and cellular HIV-specific immune responses. The recombinant Ad7deltaE1deltaE3HIV(MN)env/rev will be useful in such AIDS vaccine strategies. Further, these studies have created new cosmid vectors that can be applied to generation of single- or double-deleted Ad7 recombinants with foreign genes inserted into the E1 and/or E3 regions.

Reliability of logP predictions based on calculated molecular descriptors: a critical review.

Correct QSAR analysis requires reliable measured or calculated logP values, being logP the most frequently utilized and most important physico-chemical parameter in such studies. Since the publication of theoretical fundamentals of logP prediction, many commercial software solutions are available. These programs are all based on experimental data of huge databases therefore the predicted logP values are mostly acceptable - especially for known structures and their derivatives. In this study we critically reviewed the published methods and compared the predictive power of commercial softwares (CLOGP, KOWWIN, SciLogP/ULTRA) to each other and to our recently developed automatic QS(P)AR program. We have selected a very diverse set of 625 known drugs (98%) and drug-like molecules with experimentally validated logP values. We have collected 78 reported "outliers" as well, which could not be predicted by the "traditional" methods. We used these data in the model building and validation. Finally, we used an external validation set of compounds missing from public databases. We emphasized the importance of data quality, descriptor calculation and selection, and presented a general, reliable descriptor selection and validation technique for such kind of studies. Our method is based on the strictest mathematical and statistical rules, fully automatic and after the initial settings there is no option for user intervention. Three approaches were applied: multiple linear regression, partial least squares analysis and artificial neural network. LogP predictions with a multiple linear regression model showed acceptable accuracy for new compounds therefore it can be used for "in-silico-screening" and/or planning virtual/combinatorial libraries.

Adenovirus-mediated E2F-1 gene transfer in nonsmall-cell lung cancer induces cell growth arrest and apoptosis.

Since overexpression of E2F-1 has been shown to induce apoptosis, the ability of adenovirus-mediated transfer of E2F-1 to inhibit tumour growth in nonsmall-cell lung cancer cell lines was investigated. Three cell lines with various genomic status were infected with AdE2F. Cell proliferation and viability were determined by trypan blue exclusion. Apoptosis induction was assessed by flow cytometry and poly-adenosine diphosphate-ribose-polymerase cleavage assay. In vivo, the effect of E2F-1 on tumour growth was determined in severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mice. The current experiments showed that overexpression of E2F-1 suppressed tumour cell growth. The population of apoptotic cells was dramatically increased 96 h after infection with AdE2F. Inhibition of cell growth and induction of apoptosis was not dependent on genomic status. Moreover, treatment of implanted tumours in SCID mice with AdE2F inhibited tumour growth. These data suggest that adenovirus-mediated E2F-1 gene therapy may be effective in the treatment of nonsmall-cell lung cancer.

Prediction of tumoricidal activity and accumulation of photosensitizers in photodynamic therapy using multiple linear regression and artificial neural networks.

The biological activities of a congeneric series of pyropheophorbides used as sensitizers in photodynamic therapy have been predicted on the basis of their molecular structures, using multiple linear regression and artificial neural network (ANN) computations. Theoretical descriptors (a total of 81) were calculated by the 3DNET program based on the three-dimensional structure (3D) of the geometry-optimized molecules. These input descriptors were tested as independent variables and used for model building. Systematic descriptor selections yielded models with one, two or three descriptors with good cross-validation results. The predictive abilities of the best fitting models were checked by shuffling and cross-validation procedures. ANN was suitable for building models for both linear and nonlinear relationships. Lipophilicity was sufficient to predict the accumulation of the sensitizers in the target tissue. Weighted holistic invariant molecular descriptors weighted by atomic mass, Van der Waals volume or electronegativity were also needed to predict photodynamic activity properly. Our models were able to predict the biological activities of 13 pyropheophorbide derivatives solely on the basis of their 3D molecular structures. Moreover, linear and nonlinear variable selection methods were compared in models built linearly and nonlinearly. It is expedient to use the same method (linear or nonlinear) for variable selection as for parameter estimation.

Reducing the native tropism of adenovirus vectors requires removal of both CAR and integrin interactions.

The development of tissue-selective virus-based vectors requires a better understanding of the role of receptors in gene transfer in vivo, both to rid the vectors of their native tropism and to introduce new specificity. CAR and alphav integrins have been identified as the primary cell surface components that interact with adenovirus type 5 (Ad5)-based vectors during in vitro transduction. We have constructed a set of four vectors, which individually retain the wild-type cell interactions, lack CAR binding, lack alphav integrin binding, or lack both CAR and alphav integrin binding. These vectors have been used to examine the roles of CAR and alphav integrin in determining the tropism of Ad vectors in a mouse model following intrajugular or intramuscular injection. CAR was found to play a significant role in liver transduction. The absence of CAR binding alone, however, had little effect on the low level of expression from Ad in other tissues. Binding of alphav integrins appeared to have more influence than did binding of CAR in promoting the expression in these tissues and was also found to be important in liver transduction by Ad vectors. An effect of the penton base modification was a reduction in the number of vector genomes that could be detected in several tissues. In the liver, where CAR binding is important, combining defects in CAR and alphav integrin binding was essential to effectively reduce the high level of expression from Ad vectors. While there may be differences in Ad vector tropism among species, our results indicate that both CAR and alphav integrins can impact vector distribution in vivo. Disruption of both CAR and alphav integrin interactions may be critical for effectively reducing native tropism and enhancing the efficacy of specific targeting ligands in redirecting Ad vectors to target tissues.

Adenovirus type 9 fiber knob binds to the coxsackie B virus-adenovirus receptor (CAR) with lower affinity than fiber knobs of other CAR-binding adenovirus serotypes.

The coxsackie B virus and adenovirus (Ad) receptor (CAR) functions as an attachment receptor for multiple Ad serotypes. Here we show that the Ad serotype 9 (Ad9) fiber knob binds to CAR with much reduced affinity compared to the binding by Ad5 and Ad12 fiber knobs as well as the knob of the long fiber of Ad41 (Ad41L). Substitution of Asp222 in Ad9 fiber knob with a lysine that is conserved in Ad5, Ad12, and Ad41L substantially improved Ad9 fiber knob binding to CAR, while the corresponding substitution in Ad5 (Lys442Asp) significantly reduced Ad5 binding. The presence of an aspartic acid residue in Ad9 therefore accounts, at least in part, for the reduced CAR binding affinity of the Ad9 fiber knob. Site-directed mutagenesis of CAR revealed that CAR residues Leu73 and Lys121 and/or Lys123 are critical contact residues, with Tyr80 and Tyr83 being peripherally involved in the binding interaction with the Ad5, Ad9, Ad12, and Ad41L fiber knobs. The overall affinities and the association and dissociation rate constants for wild-type CAR as well as Tyr80 and Tyr83 CAR mutants differed between the serotypes, indicating that their binding modes, although similar, are not identical.

Adenovirus-mediated gene transfer of human inducible nitric oxide synthase in porcine vein grafts inhibits intimal hyperplasia.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to determine whether adenoviral inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) gene transfer could inhibit intimal hyperplasia (IH) in porcine internal jugular veins interposed into the carotid artery circulation. METHODS: Porcine internal jugular veins were transduced passively with 1 x 10(11) particles of an adenoviral vector carrying either the human iNOS (AdiNOS) or beta-galactosidase (AdlacZ) cDNA for 30 minutes and then interposed into the carotid artery circulation. Segments of each vein graft were maintained in an ex vivo organ culture to measure nitrite accumulation, a marker of nitric oxide synthesis. The grafts were analyzed immunohistochemically for the presence of neutrophils, macrophages, and leukocytes by staining for myeloperoxidase, ED1, and CD45, respectively, at 3 (n = 4) and 7 (n = 4) days. Morphometric analyses and cellular proliferation (Ki67 staining) were assessed at 3 (n = 4), 7 (n = 4), and 21 days (n = 8). RESULTS: AdlacZ-treated vein grafts demonstrated high levels of beta-galactosidase expression at 3 days with a gradual decline thereafter. Nitrite production from AdiNOS-treated vein grafts was approximately fivefold greater than AdlacZ-treated grafts (P =.00001). AdiNOS or AdlacZ treatment was associated with minimal graft inflammation. Cellular proliferation rates were significantly reduced in AdiNOS-treated grafts as compared with controls at both 3 (41%, P =.000004) and 7 days (32%, P =.0001) after bypass. This early antiproliferative effect was most pronounced at the distal anastomosis (65%, P =.0005). The iNOS gene transfer reduced the intimal/medial area ratio in vein grafts at 7 (36%, P =.009) and 21 days (30%, P =.007) versus controls. This inhibition of IH was again more prominent in the distal segments of the grafts (P =.01). CONCLUSION: Adenovirus-mediated iNOS gene transfer to porcine internal jugular vein grafts effectively reduced cellular proliferation and IH. Although iNOS gene transfer reduced IH throughout the entire vein graft, the most pronounced effect was measured at the distal anastomosis. These results suggest potential for iNOS-based genetic modification of vein grafts to prolong graft patency.

Inhibition of angiogenesis by adenovirus-mediated sFlt-1 expression in a rat model of corneal neovascularization.

Pathological angiogenesis, or the production of new capillary vessels from preexisting vasculature, within the eye is a serious event that often leads to blindness. Upregulation of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been linked to neovascularization in the eye, suggesting that it could be a suitable target to inhibit angiogenic changes. This work investigated whether the presence of a proven antiangiogenic factor, the soluble variant of the VEGF receptor, sFlt-1, in the anterior chamber is sufficient to inhibit new vessel formation in the cornea in an animal model of corneal neovascularization. A recombinant adenovirus vector that can mediate efficient in vivo gene transfer and expression in ocular cells was selected as a delivery agent. We have shown that after the injection of Ad.betagal into the anterior chamber of normal and cauterized rat eyes, corneal endothelial cells and cells of the trabecular meshwork were efficiently transduced and that beta-galactosidase (beta-Gal) expression was maintained up to 10 days postinjection. Cauterization significantly increased the amount of immunoreactive VEGF in vehicle- or Ad.null-injected animals (t test, p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively). However, when cauterization was combined with Ad.sflt injection there was no statistically significant increase in the amount of immunoreactive VEGF (p = 0.12). The injection of Ad.sflt into the anterior chamber slowed or inhibited VEGF-induced angiogenic changes. After cauterization, 100% of uninjected and vehicle-injected and 82% of Ad.null-injected animals developed moderate to severe corneal angiogenesis in contrast to 18% of Ad.sflt-injected animals. These in vivo results suggest that the transient presence of antiangiogenic agents in the anterior chamber can be successfully used to inhibit the development of corneal angiogenesis.

Ex vivo adenovirus mediated gene transfection of human conjunctival epithelium.

AIM: To investigate the efficacy of "ex vivo" adenoviral vector mediated gene transfection of human conjunctival epithelial cell as a possible route for gene therapy for the distribution of anti-inflammatory agents for the potential treatment of immune mediated ocular inflammatory disorders. METHODS: Human conjunctival cells (HCs) were cultured with various concentrations of recombinant adenoviral vectors carrying a reporter gene LacZ, GFP, or an immunomodulating cytokine vIL-10. vIL-10 in culture supernatant was detected by sandwich ELISA and biological activity was assessed by suppression of ConA stimulated splenocyte proliferation. X-gal and GFP expression was assessed by histochemistry. RESULTS: The extent of adenoviral vector mediated transfer of both reporter genes and vIL-10 was dose dependent. LacZ expression could be detected for at least 50 day after infection with multiple of infection (MOI) 200. Following AdCMVvIL-10 transduction, vIL-10 protein expression occurred between 4-6 days post-transduction, and was maintained at a detectable level for at least 1 month. Secreted vIL-10 showed biological activity, significantly inhibiting Con A induced splenocyte proliferation. Additionally, transfection of HCs with two Adv vectors, one carrying LacZ and the other carrying GFP, resulted in co-expression within a single cell. CONCLUSION: These results confirm previous successful adenoviral vector mediated gene transfer to HCs and further show that expression can be maintained. Furthermore the data show HCs can secrete biologically active vIL-10 that could be developed as a strategy to suppress immune mediated disorders. The successful co-transduction of HCs as described for other tissues, opens avenues to develop a multiple target gene therapy locally.

The role of receptors in the maturation-dependent adenoviral transduction of myofibers.

One of the major hurdles facing the application of adenoviral gene transfer to skeletal muscle is the maturation-dependent transduction of muscle myofibers. It was recently proposed that the viral receptors (Coxsackie and adenovirus receptor (CAR) and the integrins alphavbeta3/beta5) play a major role in the poor adenoviral transduction of mature myofibers. Here we report the findings of morphological studies designed to determine experimentally the role of receptors in the adenoviral transduction of mature myofibers. First, we observed that the expression of both attachment and internalization receptors did not change significantly during muscle development. Second, when an extended tropism adenoviral vector (AdPK) that attaches to heparan sulfate proteoglycan (HSP) is used, a significant reduction of adenoviral transduction still occurs in mature myofibers despite HSP's high expression in mature skeletal muscle fibers. Third, when the adeno-associated virus (AAV) is used, which also utilizes HSP as a viral receptor, muscle fibers at different maturities can be highly transduced. Fourth, the pre-irradiation of the skeletal muscle of newborn mice to inactivate myoblasts dramatically decreased the transduction level of Ad and AdPK, but had no effect on AAV-mediated viral transduction of immature myofibers. These results taken together suggest that the viral receptor(s) is not a major determinant in maturation-dependent adenoviral transduction of myofibers.

Efficient activation of viral genomes by levels of herpes simplex virus ICP0 insufficient to affect cellular gene expression or cell survival.

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) ICP0 can effectively activate gene expression from otherwise silent promoters contained on persisting viral genomes. However, the expression of high levels of ICP0, as from ICP4(-) HSV type 1 (HSV-1) vectors, results in marked toxicity. We have analyzed the results of ICP0 expressed from an E1(-) E4(-) adenovirus vector (AdS.11E4ICP0) in which ICP0 expression is controlled from the endogenous adenoviral E4 promoter. In this system, the expression level of ICP0 was reduced more than 1,000-fold relative to the level of expression from HSV-1 vectors. This low level of ICP0 did not affect cellular division or greatly perturb cellular metabolism as assessed by gene expression array analysis comparing the effects of HSV and adenovirus vector strains. However, this amount of ICP0 was sufficient to quantitatively destroy ND10 structures as measured by promyelocytic leukemia immunofluorescence. The levels of adenovirus-expressed ICP0 were sufficient to activate quiescent viral genomes in trans and promote persistent transgene expression in cis. Moreover, infection of complementing cells with AdS.11E4ICP0 promoted viral growth and resulted in a 20-fold increase in the plaquing efficiency of d109, a virus defective for all five immediate-early genes. Thus, the low level expression of ICP0 from the E1(-) E4(-) adenovirus vector may increase the utility of adenovirus vectors and also provides a means to efficiently quantify and possibly propagate HSV vectors defective in ICP0. Importantly, the results demonstrate that the activation function of ICP0 may not result from changes in cellular gene expression, but possibly as a direct consequence of an enzymatic function inherent to the protein that may involve its action at ND10 resulting in the preferential activation of viral genomes.

Adenovirus-mediated increase of HNF-3 levels stimulates expression of transthyretin and sonic hedgehog, which is associated with F9 cell differentiation toward the visceral endoderm lineage.

Retinoic acid-induced differentiation of mouse F9 embryonal carcinoma cells toward the visceral endoderm lineage is accompanied by increased expression of the Forkhead Box (Fox) transcription factors hepatocyte nuclear factor 3a (HNF-3alpha) and HNF-3beta, suggesting that they play a crucial role in visceral endoderm development. Retinoic acid stimulation results in a cascade of HNF-3 induction in which HNF-3alpha is a primary target for retinoic acid action and its increase is required for subsequent induction of HNF-3beta expression. Increased expression of HNF-3beta precedes activation of its known target genes, including transthyretin (TTR), Sonic hedgehog (Shh), HNF-1alpha, HNF-1beta, and HNF-4alpha. In order to examine whether increased HNF-3 expression is sufficient to induce expression of its downstream target genes without retinoic acid stimulation, we have used adenovirus-based expression vectors to increase HNF-3 protein levels in F9 cells. We demonstrate that adenovirus-mediated increase of HNF-3alpha levels in F9 cells is sufficient to induce activation of endogenous HNF-3beta levels followed by increased TTR and Shh expression. Furthermore, we show that elevated HNF-3beta levels stimulate expression of endogenous TTR and Shh without retinoic acid stimulation. Moreover, ectopic HNF-3 levels in undifferentiated F9 cells are insufficient to induce HNF-3alpha, HNF-1alpha, HNF-1beta, and HNF-4alpha expression, suggesting that their transcriptional activation required other regulatory proteins induced by the retinoic acid differentiation program. Finally, our studies demonstrate the utility of cell infections with adenovirus expressing distinct transcription factors to identify endogenous target genes, which are assembled with the appropriate nucleosome structure.

Rat sponge implant model: a new system for evaluating angiogenic gene transfer.

Therapeutic angiogenesis, either by protein injection or gene therapy, holds considerable promise for the treatment of coronary and peripheral artery diseases. Given the large number of angiogenic genes available, a simple, well defined, standard system to compare the relative angiogenic efficacy of such genes would be valuable. We have employed a replication-deficient adenovirus vector (complete E1a-, partial E1b- and partial E3-) to deliver the beta-galactosidase (beta-gal, AdLacZ) reporter gene or the human VEGF121 gene (AdGV VEGF121.10) to a rat sponge implant model of angiogenesis. beta-gal staining results reveal a transfection efficiency as high as 60% 24 h after 2x1010 particle units AdLacZ injection. Our results also indicate that a single injection of 2x1010 particle units of AdGVVEGF121.10 in the sponge results in >10, 000 pg VEGF protein expression per milligram of sponge tissue 24 h later. VEGF121 protein concentrations decreased 10-fold within 3 days and 100-fold within 7 days after injection. Significant VEGF121 protein levels were still detectable 14 days after initial virus injection. The high level of gene transfection efficiency was accompanied by enhanced angiogenesis in the sponge, a tissue devoid of any vessels before implantation. Compared to control (AdNull: adenovirus vector without the VEGF gene), AdGVVEGF121.10 induced a 2- to 3-fold up-regulation of angiogenesis at 7 and 14 days post vector injection as determined by both increased capillary number and increased tissue ingrowth. The angiogenic effects of AdGVVEGF121. 10 were dose-related in this model system. These findings demonstrate a dose-related angiogenic response to adenovirus-mediated gene therapy in this model.

Selectivity of a replication-competent adenovirus for human breast carcinoma cells expressing the MUC1 antigen.

The DF3/MUC1 gene is aberrantly overexpressed in human breast and other carcinomas. Previous studies have demonstrated that the DF3/MUC1 promoter/enhancer confers selective expression of diverse transgenes in MUC1-positive breast cancer cells. In this study, we show that an adenoviral vector (Ad.DF3-E1) in which the DF3/MUC1 promoter drives expression of E1A selectively replicates in MUC1-positive breast cancer cells. We also show that Ad.DF3-E1 infection of human breast tumor xenografts in nude mice is associated with inhibition of tumor growth. In contrast to a replication-incompetent adenoviral vector that infects along the injection track, Ad.DF3-E1 infection was detectable throughout the tumor xenografts. To generate an Ad.DF3-E1 vector with the capacity for incorporating therapeutic products, we inserted the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter upstream of the TNF cDNA. Infection with Ad.DF3-E1/CMV-TNF was associated with selective replication and production of TNF in cells that express MUC1. Moreover, treatment of MUC1-positive, but not MUC1-negative, xenografts with a single injection of Ad.DF3-E1/CMV-TNF was effective in inducing stable tumor regression. These findings demonstrate that the DF3/MUC1 promoter confers competence for selective replication of Ad.DF3-E1 in MUC1-positive breast tumor cells, and that the antitumor activity of this vector is potentiated by integration of the TNF cDNA.

Adenovirus-mediated VEGF(121) gene transfer stimulates angiogenesis in normoperfused skeletal muscle and preserves tissue perfusion after induction of ischemia.

BACKGROUND: Administration of angiogenic factors stimulates neovascularization in ischemic tissues. However, there is no evidence that angiogenesis can be induced in normoperfused skeletal muscles. We tested the hypothesis that adenovirus-mediated intramuscular (IM) gene transfer of the 121-amino-acid form of vascular endothelial growth factor (AdCMV.VEGF(121)) could stimulate neovascularization in nonischemic skeletal muscle and consequently attenuate the hemodynamic deficit secondary to surgically induced ischemia. METHODS AND RESULTS: Rabbits and rats received IM injections of AdCMV.VEGF(121), AdCMV.Null, or saline in the thigh, 4 weeks (rabbits) or 2 weeks (rats) before femoral artery removal in the injected limb. In unoperated rats, at the site of injection of AdCMV.VEGF(121), we found 96% and 29% increases in length density of arterioles and capillaries, respectively. Increased tissue perfusion (TP) to the ischemic limb in the AdCMV.VEGF(121) group was documented, as early as day 1 after surgery, by improved blood flow to the ischemic gastrocnemius muscle measured by radioactive microspheres (AdCMV.VEGF(121)=5.69+/-0.40, AdCMV.Null=2.97+/-0.50, and saline=2.78+/-0.43 mL x min(-1) x 100 g(-1), P<0.001), more angiographically recognizable collateral vessels (angioscore) (AdCMV. VEGF(121)=50.58+/-1.48, AdCMV.Null=29.08+/-4.22, saline=11.83+/-1.90, P<0.0001), and improvement of the bioenergetic reserve of the gastrocnemius muscle as assessed by (31)P NMR spectroscopy. Follow-up studies showed that superior TP to the ischemic limb in the AdCMV.VEGF(121) group persisted until it was equalized by spontaneous collateral vessel development in untreated animals. CONCLUSIONS: IM administration of AdCMV.VEGF(121) stimulates angiogenesis in normoperfused skeletal muscles, and the newly formed vessels preserve TP after induction of ischemia.