Magnetically Guided Adeno-Associated Virus Delivery for the Spatially Targeted Transduction of Retina in Eyes.

Adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) are intensively explored for gene therapies in general and have found promising applications for treating retina diseases. However, controlling the specificity (tropism) and delivery of AAVs to selected layers, cell types, and areas of the retina is a major challenge to further develop retinal gene therapies. Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) provide effective delivery platforms to magnetically guide therapeutics to target cells. Yet, how MNPs can deliver AAVs to transfect particular retina layers and cells remains elusive. Here, it is demonstrated that MNPs can be used to transport different AAVs through the retina and to modulate the selective transduction of specific retinal layers or photoreceptor cells in ex vivo porcine explants and whole eyes. Thereby, transduction is triggered by bringing the viruses in close proximity to the target cell layer and by controlling their interaction time. It is shown that this magnetically guided approach to transport AAVs to selected areas and layers of the retina does not require the cell-specific optimization of the AAV tropism. It is anticipated that the new approach to control the delivery of AAVs and to selectively transduce cellular systems can be applied to many other tissues or organs to selectively deliver genes of interest.

Targeting neuronal and glial cell types with synthetic promoter AAVs in mice, non-human primates and humans.

Targeting genes to specific neuronal or glial cell types is valuable for both understanding and repairing brain circuits. Adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) are frequently used for gene delivery, but targeting expression to specific cell types is an unsolved problem. We created a library of 230 AAVs, each with a different synthetic promoter designed using four independent strategies. We show that a number of these AAVs specifically target expression to neuronal and glial cell types in the mouse and non-human primate retina in vivo and in the human retina in vitro. We demonstrate applications for recording and stimulation, as well as the intersectional and combinatorial labeling of cell types. These resources and approaches allow economic, fast and efficient cell-type targeting in a variety of species, both for fundamental science and for gene therapy.

Virus stamping for targeted single-cell infection in vitro and in vivo.

Genetic engineering by viral infection of single cells is useful to study complex systems such as the brain. However, available methods for infecting single cells have drawbacks that limit their applications. Here we describe 'virus stamping', in which viruses are reversibly bound to a delivery vehicle-a functionalized glass pipette tip or magnetic nanoparticles in a pipette-that is brought into physical contact with the target cell on a surface or in tissue, using mechanical or magnetic forces. Different single cells in the same tissue can be infected with different viruses and an individual cell can be simultaneously infected with different viruses. We use rabies, lenti, herpes simplex, and adeno-associated viruses to drive expression of fluorescent markers or a calcium indicator in target cells in cell culture, mouse retina, human brain organoid, and the brains of live mice. Virus stamping provides a versatile solution for targeted single-cell infection of diverse cell types, both in vitro and in vivo.

Decreased levels of microRNA miR-122 in individuals with hepatitis C responding poorly to interferon therapy.

Several microRNAs (miRNAs), including liver-specific miR-122, have been implicated in the control of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA replication and its response to interferon (IFN) in human hepatoma cells. Our analysis of liver biopsies from subjects with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) undergoing IFN therapy revealed no correlation of miR-122 expression with viral load and markedly decreased pretreatment miR-122 levels in subjects who had no virological response during later IFN therapy; other investigated miRNAs showed only limited changes. These data have implications for the prospect of targeting miRNAs for CHC therapy.