title: Gene therapy for bone formation: in vitro and in vivo osteogenic activity of an adenovirus expressing BMP7.
abstract: Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are well-established agents for inducing orthotopic and ectopic bone formation. However, their clinical usefulness as regenerative agents may be limited by a short in vivo half-life and low specific activity. BMP gene therapy is an alternative route for exploiting the bone-inductive activity of this class of molecules. To test the feasibility of this approach, we examined the osteogenic activity of AdCMV-BMP7, an adenovirus containing BMP7 cDNA under control of the CMV promoter that was constructed using Cre/lox recombination (Hardy et al. [1997] J. Virol. 71:1842-1849). Adenovirus vectors were shown to readily infect a wide variety of cell types in vitro including osteoblasts, fibroblasts, and myoblasts. COS7 cells transduced with AdCMV-BMP7 produced high levels of BMP-7 (approximately 0.5 microg/10(6) cells). Furthermore, transduction of C2C12 murine myoblast cells with AdCMVBMP-7 suppressed the muscle phenotype and induced in vitro osteoblast differentiation. To test its in vivo biological activity, AdCMV-BMP7 was mixed with a bovine bone-derived collagen carrier (10(8) plaque-forming units virus/site) and was implanted into mouse muscle and dermal pouches. In both cases, an ossicle containing cortical and trabecular bone and a clearly defined marrow cavity formed at the site of virus implantation within 4 weeks. These data demonstrate that AdCMV-BMP7 transduced cells produce biologically active BMP-7 both in vitro and in vivo and show that gene therapy by direct viral transduction using a virus/matrix implant may be a viable route for stimulating bone regeneration.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Periodontics/Prevention/Geriatrics, School of Dentistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109-1078, USA. rennyf@umich.edu
authors.forename: R T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Franceschi
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Krebsbach
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Rutherford
mesh_terms: D000256:Adenoviridae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001846:Bone Development; D055419:Bone Morphogenetic Protein 7; D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000821:virology; D019556:COS Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000821:virology; D002417:Cattle; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000821:virology; D015870:Gene Expression; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D051379:Mice; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000821:virology; D010006:Osteoblasts / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000821:virology; D010012:Osteogenesis; D012867:Skin / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000821:virology; D014162:Transfection; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D001616:beta-Galactosidase / Q000096:biosynthesis
chemical_list: C525819:BMP7 protein, human; D055419:Bone Morphogenetic Protein 7; D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D001616:beta-Galactosidase