Rheumatology Advance Access originally published online on March 9, 2005
Rheumatology 2005 44(6):735-743; doi:10.1093/rheumatology/keh590
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Disease- and cell-type-specific transcriptional targeting of vectors for osteoarthritis gene therapy: further development of a clinical canine model
Molecular Therapeutics Research Group, Department of Veterinary Clinical Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow, Bearsden Road, Glasgow G61 1QH, UK and 1 University of Wisconsin Comparative Oncology Program, Department of Medical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2015 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 537061102, USA.
Correspondence to: D. J. Argyle, Department of Medical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2015 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 537061102, USA. E-mail: argyled{at}svm.vetmed.wisc.edu
Objectives. The potential for undesirable systemic effects related to constitutive expression of certain therapeutic transgenes may be limited through the development of transcriptionally targeted disease- and cell-type-specific vectors. The objective of this study was to analyse the canine matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) promoter and deletion constructs for its ability to drive expression in response to pro-inflammatory cytokines (interleukin-1ß and tumour necrosis factor-
).
Methods. Initial analysis of MMP-9 deletion constructs was made using a luciferase reporter system. The promoter was subsequently engineered to incorporate multiple NF-
B sites. In parallel experiments we used the mouse collagen type XI promoter to study cell-type-specific promoter activity in chondrocyte-specific cells (SW1353) and undifferentiated chondroprogenitor cells (ATDC5).
Results. Incorporation of multiple NF-
B sites into the MMP-9 promoter enhanced activity while maintaining disease specificity. Further, manipulation of the mouse collagen type XI (mColXI) promoter by the incorporation of SOX9 enhancer sites downstream of a reporter gene, increased gene activity while maintaining cell type specificity.
Conclusions. Manipulation of promoter and enhancer regions can improve transcriptionally targeted genes. A combination of these systems, in the context of the canine model, has the potential to improve the safety of osteoarthritis gene therapy vectors.
KEY WORDS: Osteoarthritis, Canine model, Gene therapy, Transcription