Protective effect of transfection with secretable superoxide dismutase (SOD) (a signal sequence-SOD fusion protein coding cDNA) expression vector on superoxide anion-induced cytotoxicity in vitro.

For ex vivo gene therapy, superoxide dismutase (SOD) must be secreted into the extracellular space and delivered to damaged cells. Recombinant DNA technique can be used to produce a secretory protein that is fused to a non-secretory protein and a signal peptide of another secretory protein gene. We constructed a secretable SOD eukaryotic expression vector which expresses human SOD cDNA by fusing it to the signal peptide DNA sequence of the human interleukin-2 (IL-2) gene. The ILSOD cDNA constructed by PCR-based gene expression was ligated into the multicloning site of the pRc/CMV plasmid (pRc/CMV-ILSOD). Rat lung epithelial like cells (L2 cells) were transfected with pRc/CMV-ILSOD by lipofection. The extracellular SOD activity of ILSOD-L2 cells (transfected cells with pRc/CMV-ILSOD) was 3 times as high as that of host cells. We used the xanthin (X)/xanthin oxidase (XO) system to produce superoxide anions at the extracellular space. We initially investigated the direct cytotoxicity of superoxide anions upon cells. Host and ILSOD-L2 cells were killed by using X/XO, although the sensitivity of the ILSOD-L2 cells to X/XO induced cytotoxicity was significantly decreased compared with that of host cells. The production of lipid peroxidated substances in the host in the presence of X/XO increased to about twice the control (absence of X/XO) level. However, that of ILSOD-L2 cells did not change in the presence of X/XO. Therefore, ILSOD-L2 cells were resistant to X/XO induced lipid peroxidation. These findings indicated that ILSOD gene transfection protected against direct oxidant stress by X/XO. We then investigated the effect of extracellular SOD secreted from ILSOD-L2 cells on extracellular superoxide anion induced cytotoxicity in normal cells. The conditioned media of host cells had no significant effect upon X/XO induced cytotoxicity. However, the conditioned media of ILSOD-L2 cells protected against X/XO induced cytotoxicity. Furthermore, the conditioned medium of ILSOD-L2 cells was more effective than that of host cells against the production of lipid peroxidated substances by normal cells under conditions of oxidative stress. These results indicated that non-secretable protein could be delivered to target cells by means of DNA engineering. This strategy could thus provide an ex vivo means of applying gene therapy using non-secretable proteins.

Effects of transfection with the Cu, Zn-superoxide dismutase gene on xanthine/xanthine oxidase-induced cytotoxicity in fibroblasts from rat skin.

PURPOSE: The effects of transfection with the human Cu, Zn-superoxide dismutase (hSOD)4 gene on active oxygen-induced cytotoxicity in rat skin fibroblasts (FR) were studied for the purpose of developing the novel delivery system of hSOD using hSOD gene. METHODS: An expression plasmid for hSOD, pRc/RSV-SOD, was constructed and used to transfect FR cells. Xanthine (X)/xanthine oxidase (XO) system were used to generate active oxygen species. The effects of transfection with the hSOD gene on active oxygen-induced cytotoxicity were assessed by comparing the number of surviving cells and the level of lipid peroxidation in host and transformants after exposure to X/XO system. RESULTS: The cellular SOD activity in RSV-SOD cells transfected with pRc/RSV-SOD was significantly increased in comparison with host or RSV cells transfected with the pRc/RSV plasmid containing no hSOD gene as a control. Furthermore, Western blot analysis using an anti-hSOD antibody indicated the production of hSOD in RSV-SOD cells. On the other hand, although the numbers of surviving cells in both host and RSV-SOD cultures after exposure to X/XO system decreased in a time-dependent manner, the decrease in number of surviving RSV-SOD cells was less than that in host cells. In the presence of catalase, the decreases in number of surviving cells in both host and RSV-SOD cultures after exposure to the X/XO system were also less than those in the absence of catalase. However, the decreases in cell survival in RSV-SOD cultures were significantly less than those in host cells in the presence of catalase. Furthermore, the levels of lipid peroxidation in RSV-SOD cells exposed to the X/XO system in the presence or absence of catalase were lower than those in host cells. These results indicated that the increase in cellular SOD activity by transfection with the hSOD gene protects cells from oxidative stress. CONCLUSIONS: Human SOD gene therapy may be useful for treatment of diseases in which oxidative tissue damage is produced.

Effect of folinic acid on tissue residence and excretion of methotrexate in rats.

The effect of folinic acid (CF) on the tissue residence and renal excretion of methotrexate (MTX) in the rat model is described in an experiment designed to resemble a clinical regimen of high-dose MTX therapy with CF rescue. Concentrations of MTX in the kidney, liver, and plasma were determined following the sequential killing of the animals up to 24 hr after an iv bolus injection of 100 mumol/kg MTX. The treated group received repeated iv doses of CF (5.86 mumol/kg) for 9.3 hr. The tissue retention property of MTX was characterized by noncompartmental parameters, the mean residence time (MRT), and the single-pass mean residence time (MRTSP) in organs. The values of MRT in the kidney and liver were greater than that in plasma and were shortened by the CF treatment, indicating that CF is effective in reducing the duration of exposure to MTX in those organs. For drugs whose duration of exposure is a key factor in their toxicity, MRTSP was shown to be a useful parameter in toxicokinetic study. The renal clearance of MTX was virtually constant over a wide range of plasma MTX levels (0.1-165 microM) and was inhibited by p-aminohippurate. CF accelerated the renal excretion of MTX, which effect depended on the plasma concentration of MTX. Since reabsorption and filtration were not affected by CF, the increased excretion of MTX was attributed to a stimulation of tubular secretion. These observations show that CF exerts a beneficial effect in accelerating the excretion of MTX residing in the organs, in addition to supplying active folate to aid the resumption of de novo DNA synthesis.

Moment analysis of drug disposition in kidney. III: Transport of p-aminohippurate and tetraethylammonium in the perfused kidney isolated from uranyl nitrate-induced acute renal failure rats.

A different manner of insufficiency of renal epithelial cell transport between the organic anion and cation, p-aminohippurate and tetraethylammonium, respectively, was observed in the perfused kidney isolated from uranyl nitrate-induced acute renal failure (ARF) rats. The single-pass outflow pattern of the perfused kidney was analyzed by noncompartmental moment analysis. The active tubular secretion was impaired faster than the reduction of glomerular filtration, and the tetraethylammonium secretion decreased at an earlier stage of ARF than p-aminohippurate. The apparent uptake rate constant from blood to cells of p-aminohippurate was reduced with the progress of ARF and associated with the amount of this drug secreted, whereas the uptake rate constant of tetraethylammonium did not change until the late stage of ARF. The mean residence time in renal epithelial cells of tetraethylammonium was prolonged with reduction of the amount to be secreted, while that of p-aminohippurate remained unchanged. Therefore, the uptake of p-aminohippurate across the basolateral membranes decreased gradually, and the transport across the brush border membranes was still unchanged after uranyl nitrate treatment. On the other hand, the secretion of tetraethylammonium from cells to lumen was impaired at first, and then the uptake from blood to cells was impaired. These results suggest that impairment by uranyl nitrate-induced ARF appears at the carrier-mediated transport process of the epithelial cell membranes for both organic anions and cations.