Long-term systemic therapy of Fabry disease in a knockout mouse by adeno-associated virus-mediated muscle-directed gene transfer.
Fabry disease is a systemic disease caused by genetic deficiency of a lysosomal enzyme, alpha-galactosidase A (alpha-gal A), and is thought to be an important target for enzyme replacement therapy. We studied the feasibility of gene-mediated enzyme replacement for Fabry disease. The adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector containing the alpha-gal A gene was injected into the right quadriceps muscles of Fabry knockout mice. A time course study showed that alpha-gal A activity in plasma was increased to approximately 25% of normal mice and that this elevated activity persisted for up to at least 30 weeks without development of anti-alpha-gal A antibodies. The alpha-gal A activity in various organs of treated Fabry mice remained 5-20% of those observed in normal mice. Accumulated globotriaosylceramide in these organs was completely cleared by 25 weeks after vector injection. Reduction of globotriaosylceramide levels was also confirmed by immunohistochemical and electronmicroscopic analyses. Echocardiographic examination of treated mice demonstrated structural improvement of cardiac hypertrophy 25 weeks after the treatment. AAV vector-mediated muscle-directed gene transfer provides an efficient and practical therapeutic approach for Fabry disease.
Takahashi
Hiroshi
H
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Center for Advanced Medical Technology, Nippon Medical School, 1-1-5 Sendagi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8602, Japan.
Hirai
Yukihiko
Y
Migita
Makoto
M
Seino
Yoshihiko
Y
Fukuda
Yuh
Y
Sakuraba
Hitoshi
H
Kase
Ryoichi
R
Kobayashi
Toshihide
T
Hashimoto
Yasuhiro
Y
Shimada
Takashi
T
D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D000229:Dependovirus / Q000235:genetics; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D000795:Fabry Disease / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D015316:Genetic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000201:enzymology; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D014281:Trihexosylceramides / Q000378:metabolism; D000519:alpha-Galactosidase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
D014281:Trihexosylceramides; C018549:globotriaosylceramide; D000519:alpha-Galactosidase