Intraocular expression of endostatin reduces VEGF-induced retinal vascular permeability, neovascularization, and retinal detachment.

Endostatin, a proteolytic fragment of collagen XVIII, is an endogenous inhibitor of tumor angiogenesis that also inhibits choroidal neovascularization. In this study, we assessed the effects of increased intraocular expression of endostatin on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-induced changes in the retina. After subretinal injection of a pair of gutless adenoviral vectors (AGV) designed to provide tamoxifen-inducible expression of endostatin, diffuse endostatin immunoreactivity was induced thoroughout the retina by administration of tamoxifen. Induction of endostatin in double transgenic mice with doxycycline-induced expression of VEGF in the retina resulted in significant suppression of leakage of intravascular [3H]mannitol into the retina. The ability of endostatin to reduce VEGF-induced retinal vascular permeability was confirmed by using [3H]mannitol leakage and two other parameters, fluorescein leakage and retinal thickness, after subretinal injection of a bovine immunodeficiency lentiviral vector coding for endostatin (BIV-vectored endostatin, or BIVendostatin). Subretinal injection of BIVendostatin resulted in more discrete, less intense staining for endostatin in the retina than that seen with the inducible AGV system, which suggested lower levels and allowed visualization of sites where endostatin was concentrated. Endostatin staining outlined retinal blood vessels, which suggested endostatin binding to a component of vessel walls. More prolonged or higher level expression of VEGF in the retina resulted in neovascularization and retinal detachment, both of which were also significantly reduced by BIVendostatin. These data suggest that endostatin may be an endogenous inhibitor of vasopermeability as well as neovascularization. In patients with diabetic retinopathy, endostatin gene transfer may provide a way to decrease the risk of three causes of visual loss: macular edema, neovascularization, and retinal detachment.

Development of second- and third-generation bovine immunodeficiency virus-based gene transfer systems.

Lentivirus-based gene transfer systems have demonstrated their utility in mediating gene transfer to dividing and nondividing cells both in vitro and in vivo. An early-generation gene transfer system developed from bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) has been described (Berkowitz et al., J. Virol. 2001;75:3371-3382). In this paper, we describe the development of second-generation (three-plasmid) and third-generation (four-plasmid) BIV-based systems. All accessory genes (vif, vpw, vpy, and tmx) and the regulatory gene tat were deleted or largely truncated from the packaging construct. Furthermore, we split the packaging function into two constructs by expressing Rev in a separate plasmid. Together with our minimal BIV transfer vector construct and a vesicular stomatitis virus G glycoprotein-expressing plasmid, the BIV vectors were generated. The vectors produced by the three- and four-plasmid systems had titers greater than 1 x 10(6) transducing units per milliliter and were fully functional as indicated by their ability to efficiently transduce both dividing and nondividing cells. These results suggest that the accessory genes vif, vpw, vpy, and tmx are dispensable for functional BIV vector development. The modifications made to the packaging constructs improve the safety profile of the vector system. Finally, BIV vectors provide an alternative to human immunodeficiency virus-based gene transfer systems.

A synthetic Rev-independent bovine immunodeficiency virus-based packaging construct.

Replication competent lentivirus (RCL) has been the major safety concern associated with applications of lentivirus-based gene transfer systems for human gene therapy. Minimization and elimination of overlaps between the packaging and the transfer vector constructs are expected to reduce the potential to generate RCL. We previously developed second- and third-generation bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV)-based gene transfer systems. However, some sequence homologies between the vector and gag/pol packaging constructs remained. In order to minimize the sequence homologies, we recoded gag/pol with codon usage optimized for expression in human cells in this report. Expression of the recoded gag/pol was Rev/RRE independent. Thus, RRE was eliminated from the packaging construct, thereby removing a 312 bp block of homology. In addition, recoding gag/pol minimized overall homologies between the packaging and transfer vector constructs. Vectors generated by the recoded packaging construct with a four plasmid system had titers greater than 1 x 10(6) transducing units per milliliter, equivalent to those of the earlier generation systems. The vectors were functional in vitro and efficiently transduced rat pigment epithelial cells in vivo. Generation of the synthetic packaging construct provides further advances to the safety of lentiviral vectors for clinical applications.

Sustained transduction of ocular cells with a bovine immunodeficiency viral vector.

Human immunodeficiency viral (HIV) vectors mediate long-term transduction of many types of nondividing cells in vivo. Bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) is a lentivirus that shares many characteristics with HIV, but does not cause human disease. In this study, we investigated the potential of BIV vectors for ocular gene therapy. An enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP)-encoding reporter gene was packaged in recombinant BIV vector (BIV.eGFP). Adult C57BL/6 mice were given an intravitreous (5 x 10(4) or 5 x 10(5) transducing units [TU]) or subretinal (5 x 10(5) TU) injection of BIV.eGFP and then GFP expression was assessed at several time points. In vivo examinations of mice showed that subretinal injection of BIV.eGFP resulted in strong expression of GFP from the first examination at 1 week through the final examination at 20 weeks. Only a few mice that received intravitreous injection of BIV.eGFP showed GFP expression by ocular examinations until 11-12 weeks, when most showed small areas of expression. Postmortem examinations showed prominent GFP expression in retinal pigmented epithelial (RPE) cells throughout the region of subretinal injection of vector, although occasional negatively staining RPE cells were scattered among the much more numerous, brilliantly staining cells. Ciliary epithelial cells frequently expressed GFP, as did occasional Müller cells and rarely other retinal cells. The expression was stable from the first time point (2 weeks) to the last (20 weeks). Postmortem examination of eyes given an intravitreous injection of BIV.eGFP showed transduction of cells in the corneal endothelium and a few scattered retinal cells. There was no evidence of inflammation or toxicity in any eyes. These data show that BIV vectors mediate rapid and sustained transduction of RPE cells, suggesting that they may be useful for ocular gene therapy targeting RPE cells.

Inhibition of lysosome and proteasome function enhances human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection.

We previously reported that inhibition of endosomal/lysosomal function can dramatically enhance human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infectivity, suggesting that under these conditions productive HIV-1 infection can occur via the endocytic pathway. Here we further examined this effect with bafilomycin A1 (BFLA-1) and show that this enhancement of infectivity extends to all HIV-1 isolates tested regardless of coreceptor usage. However, isolate-specific differences were observed in the magnitude of the effect. This was particularly evident in the case of the weakly infectious HIV-1(SF2), for which we observed the greatest enhancement. Using reciprocal chimeric viruses, we were able to determine that both the disproportionate increase in the infectivity of HIV-1(SF2) in response to BFLA-1 and its weak infectivity in the absence of BFLA-1 mapped to its envelope gene. Further, we found HIV-1(SF2) to have lower fusion activity and to be 12-fold more sensitive to the fusion inhibitor T-20 than HIV-1(NL4-3). Proteasomal inhibitors also enhance HIV-1 infectivity, and we report that the combination of a lysosomal and a proteasomal inhibitor greatly enhanced infectivity of all isolates tested. Again, HIV-1(SF2) was unique in exhibiting a synergistic 400-fold increase in infectivity. We also determined that inhibition of proteasomal function increased the infectivity of HIV-1 pseudotyped with vesicular stomatitis virus G protein. The evidence presented here highlights the important role of the lysosomes/proteasomes in the destruction of infectious HIV-1(SF2) and could have implications for the development of novel antiviral agents that might take advantage of these innate defenses.

Inhibition of endosomal/lysosomal degradation increases the infectivity of human immunodeficiency virus.

Productive entry of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) into a host cell is believed to proceed via fusion of the viral envelope with the host cell's plasma membrane. Interestingly, the majority of HIV-1 particles that bind to the cell surface are taken up by the host cell via endocytosis; however, this mode of internalization generally does not result in infection. Presumably, virus particles remain trapped in the endocytic pathway and are eventually degraded. Here, we demonstrate that treatment of cells with various pharmacological agents known to elevate the pH of endosomes and lysosomes allows HIV-1 to efficiently enter and infect the host cell. Pretreatment of cells with bafilomycin A1 results in up to a 50-fold increase in the infectivity of HIV-1(SF2). Similarly, pretreatment of target cells with amantadine, concanamycin A, concanamycin B, chloroquine, and ammonium chloride resulted in increases in HIV-1 infectivity ranging between 2- and 15-fold. Analysis of receptor and coreceptor expression, HIV-long terminal repeat (LTR) transactivation, and transduction with amphotropic-pseudotyped murine leukemia virus (MLV)-based vectors suggests that the increase in infectivity is not artifactual. The increased infectivity under these conditions appears to be due to the ability of HIV-1 and MLV particles to enter via the endocytic pathway when spared from degradation in the late endosomes and lysosomes. These results could have significant implications for the administration of current and future lysosmotropic agents to patients with HIV disease.

Mapping of the bovine immunodeficiency virus packaging signal and RRE and incorporation into a minimal gene transfer vector.

Gene transfer systems based on lentiviruses have emerged as promising gene delivery vehicles for human gene therapy due to their ability to efficiently transduce nondividing target cells. Both primate and nonprimate lentiviruses have been used for construction of lentiviral vectors. An early generation of gene transfer system based on bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) has been developed (R. D. Berkowitz, H. Ilves, W. Y. Lin, K. Eckert, A. Coward, S. Tamaki, G. Veres, and I. Plavec, 2001, J. Virol. 75, 3371-3382). In this study, we mapped the BIV Rev response element (RRE) to 312 bp of the Env coding region. Furthermore, we compared transduction efficiencies of vectors containing different portions of the BIV Gag coding region and found that the first 104 bp of gag contains a functional part of the BIV packaging signal. These findings enabled the generation of a minimal BIV-based lentiviral vector. The minimal transfer vector construct consists of a self-inactivating long terminal repeats (LTR), minimal packaging sequence, putative central polypurine tract, minimal RRE, an internal promoter driving the gene of interest, and a woodchuck hepatitis posttranscriptional regulatory element. In addition, we constructed a BIV packaging construct containing gag/pol, minimal Rev/RRE, and the accessory gene vpy. The regulatory gene tat and the accessory genes vif and vpw have been inactivated or truncated. The current system has significantly reduced regions of homologies between the transfer vector and the packaging constructs. The vectors generated from this system achieved a titer of greater than 1 x 10(6) transducing units per milliliter and are fully functional as indicated by their ability to efficiently transduce both dividing and nondividing cells. These modifications should provide improved safety features for the BIV-based gene transfer system.