title: Efficient gene transfer and expression of biologically active glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor in rat motoneurons transduced wit lentiviral vectors.
abstract: Several studies have shown the ability of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV1)-based lentiviral vectors to infect nondividing brain and retinal neurons with high efficiency and long-term expression of the transduced gene. We show that purified embryonic motoneurons can be efficiently (>95%) transduced in culture using an HIV1-based lentiviral vector encoding LacZ. Expression of beta-galactosidase was observed for at least 9 days in these conditions. Furthermore, motoneurons transduced with a lentiviral vector expressing glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor survived in the absence of additional trophic support, showing that the overexpressed protein was biologically active. Our results demonstrate the potential of lentiviral vectors in studying the biological effects of proteins expressed in motoneurons and in the development of future gene therapy for motoneuron diseases.
authors.affiliation: INSERM U.382, Developmental Biology Institute of Marseille (CNRS-INSERM-Université Méditerranée-AP), France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cisterni
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Henderson
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Aebischer
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pettmann
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Déglon
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian; D015870:Gene Expression; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D051100:Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D007763:Lac Operon / Q000235:genetics; D016086:Lentivirus / Q000235:genetics*; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: C495041:Gdnf protein, rat; D051100:Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins