[Is there a risk of zoonotic disease due to adenoviruses?]. / Les adénovirus non-humains - Un risque zoonotique ?

Every year brings another round of zoonotic viral infections. Usually they fall under the radar, but the occasional lethal epidemic brings another scare to the public and new urgency to the medical community. The types of these viruses (DNA vs. RNA genomes, enveloped vs. proteinaceous) as well as the preceding host(s) vary. Over the last 20 years, bats have been identified as an enigmatic carrier for several pathogens that have jumped the species barrier and infected humans. Factors that favour the emergence of zoonotic pathogens include the increasing overlap of the human and animal habitats, cultural activities, and the host reservoir. In this context, we asked whether bat and/or nonhuman primate adenoviruses are a risk for human health.

Corrective GUSB transfer to the canine mucopolysaccharidosis VII cornea using a helper-dependent canine adenovirus vector.

Corneal transparency is maintained, in part, by specialized fibroblasts called keratocytes, which reside in the fibrous lamellae of the stroma. Corneal clouding, a condition that impairs visual acuity, is associated with numerous diseases, including mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) type VII. MPS VII is due to deficiency in ß-glucuronidase (ß-glu) enzymatic activity, which leads to accumulation of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), and secondary accumulation of gangliosides. Here, we tested the efficacy of canine adenovirus type 2 (CAV-2) vectors to transduce keratocyte in vivo in mice and nonhuman primates, and ex vivo in dog and human corneal explants. Following efficacy studies, we asked if we could treat corneal clouding by the injection a helper-dependent (HD) CAV-2 vector (HD-RIGIE) harboring the human cDNA coding for ß-glu (GUSB) in the canine MPS VII cornea. ß-Glu activity, GAG content, and lysosome morphology and physiopathology were analyzed. We found that HD-RIGIE injections efficiently transduced coxsackievirus adenovirus receptor-expressing keratocytes in the four species and, compared to mock-injected controls, improved the pathology in the canine MPS VII cornea. The key criterion to corrective therapy was the steady controlled release of ß-glu and its diffusion throughout the collagen-dense stroma. These data support the continued evaluation of HD CAV-2 vectors to treat diseases affecting corneal keratocytes.