Endothelial Retargeting of AAV9 In Vivo

• Published in: Advanced science Vol. 9; no. 7; pp. e2103867 - n/a
• Main Authors: Bozoglu, Tarik, Lee, Seungmin, Ziegler, Tilman, Jurisch, Victoria, Maas, Sanne, Baehr, Andrea, Hinkel, Rabea, Hoenig, Amelie, Hariharan, Anjana, Kim, Christina Inyeop, Decker, Simon, Sami, Haider, Koppara, Tobias, Oellinger, Ruppert, Müller, Oliver J., Frank, Derk, Megens, Remco, Nelson, Peter, Weber, Christian, Schnieke, Angelika, Sperandio, Markus, Santamaria, Gianluca, Rad, Roland, Moretti, Alessandra, Laugwitz, Karl‐Ludwig, Soehnlein, Oliver, Ogris, Manfred, Kupatt, Christian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.03.2022; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: Animals; Antibodies; Binding sites; Blood Pressure; Cell adhesion & migration; Cytomegalovirus; Dependovirus - genetics; Endothelial Cells; Endothelium; Heart; Heparan sulfate; Mice; Mice, Transgenic; Musculoskeletal system; Peptides; Polyethylene glycol; Proteins; RNA, Guide, CRISPR-Cas Systems; subject terms: gene therapy; Swine; vascular biology; Viruses; endothelium; subject terms: gene therapy; vascular biology
• ISSN: 2198-3844; 2198-3844
• DOI: 10.1002/advs.202103867

Adeno‐associated viruses (AAVs) are frequently used for gene transfer and gene editing in vivo, except for endothelial cells, which are remarkably resistant to unmodified AAV‐transduction. AAVs are retargeted here toward endothelial cells by coating with second‐generation polyamidoamine dendrimers (G2) linked to endothelial‐affine peptides (CNN). G2CNN AAV9‐Cre (encoding Cre recombinase) are injected into mTmG‐mice or mTmG‐pigs, cell‐specifically converting red to green fluorescence upon Cre‐activity. Three endothelial‐specific functions are assessed: in vivo quantification of adherent leukocytes after systemic injection of ‐ G2CNN AAV9 encoding 1) an artificial adhesion molecule (S1FG) in wildtype mice (day 10) or 2) anti‐inflammatory Annexin A1 (Anxa1) in ApoE−/− mice (day 28). Moreover, 3) in Cas9‐transgenic mice, blood pressure is monitored till day 56 after systemic application of G2CNN AAV9‐gRNAs, targeting exons 6–10 of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), a vasodilatory enzyme. G2CNN AAV9‐Cre transduces microvascular endothelial cells in mTmG‐mice or mTmG‐pigs. Functionally, G2CNN AAV9‐S1FG mediates S1FG‐leukocyte adhesion, whereas G2CNN AAV9‐Anxa1‐application reduces long‐term leukocyte recruitment. Moreover, blood pressure increases in Cas9‐expressing mice subjected to G2CNN AAV9‐gRNAeNOS. Therefore, G2CNN AAV9 may enable gene transfer in vascular and atherosclerosis models. A combination of polyamidoamine nanoparticle of second generation (G2) coating and endothelial‐affine peptide targeting is applied to alter the tropism of AAV9 from myo‐ and liver‐tropism to endothelial cells. Successful retargeting of G2CNN‐coated AAV9 via fluorescence microscopy and three functional assays depending on endothelial transduction of the transgene is demonstrated. This retargeting renders AAV9 utilizable for vascular investigations.