Prospects and limitations of cumate-inducible lentivirus as a tool for investigating VEGF-A-mediated pathology in diabetic retinopathy.
Sci Rep
; 14(1): 14325, 2024 06 21.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38906906
ABSTRACT
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a multifactorial disease displaying vascular-associated pathologies, including vascular leakage and neovascularization, ultimately leading to visual impairment. However, animal models accurately reflecting these pathologies are lacking. Vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) is an important factor in the development of micro- and macro-vascular pathology in DR. In this study, we evaluated the feasibility of using a cumate-inducible lentivirus (LV) mediated expression of vegf-a to understand DR pathology in vitro and in vivo. Retinal pigment epithelial cells (ARPE-19) were transduced with cumate-inducible LV expressing vegf-a, with subsequent analysis of vegf-a expression and its impact on cell proliferation, viability, motility, and permeability. Cumate tolerability in adult Wistar rat eyes was assessed as an initial step towards a potential DR animal model development, by administering cumate via intravitreal injections (IVT) and evaluating consequent effects by spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), flash electroretinography (fERG), ophthalmic examination (OE), and immunohistochemistry. Transduction of ARPE-19 cells with cumate-inducible LV resulted in ~ 2.5-fold increase in vegf-a mRNA and ~ threefold increase in VEGF-A protein secretion. Transduced cells displayed enhanced cell proliferation, viability, permeability, and migration in tube-like structures. However, IVT cumate injections led to apparent retinal toxicity, manifesting as retinal layer abnormalities, haemorrhage, vitreous opacities, and significant reductions in a- and b-wave amplitudes, along with increased microglial activation and reactive gliosis. In summary, while cumate-inducible LV-mediated vegf-a expression is valuable for in vitro mechanistic studies in cellular drug discovery, its use is not a feasible approach to model DR in in vivo studies due to cumate-induced retinal toxicity.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Lentivirus
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Factor A de Crecimiento Endotelial Vascular
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Retinopatía Diabética
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Epitelio Pigmentado de la Retina
Límite:
Animals
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Humans
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Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Sci Rep
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article