title: Adenoviral human BCL-2 transgene expression attenuates early donor cell death after cardiomyoblast transplantation into ischemic rat hearts.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cell transplantation for myocardial repair is limited by early cell death. Gene therapy with human Bcl-2 (hBcl-2) has been shown to attenuate apoptosis in the experimental setting. Therefore, we studied the potential benefit of hBcl-2 transgene expression on the survival of cardiomyoblast grafts in ischemic rat hearts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  H9c2 rat cardiomyoblasts were genetically modified to express both firefly luciferase and green fluorescent protein (mH9c2). The cells were then transduced with adenovirus carrying hBcl-2 (AdCMVhBcl-2/mH9c2). Lewis rats underwent ligation of the left anterior descending artery (LAD) to induce a sizable left ventricular (LV) infarct. Hearts were explanted and the infarcted region was restored using collagen matrix (CM) seeded with 1x10(6) mH9c2 cells (n=9) or AdCMVhBcl-2/mH9c2 cells (n=9). Control animals received CM alone (n=6) or no infarct (n=6). Restored hearts were transplanted into the abdomen of syngeneic recipients in a "working heart" model. Cell survival was evaluated using optical bioluminescence imaging on days 1, 5, 8, 14, and 28 after surgery. The left heart function was assessed 4 weeks postoperatively using echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging. During 4 weeks after surgery, the optical imaging signal for the AdCMVhBCL2/mH9c2 group was significantly (P<0.05) higher than that of the mH9c2-control group. Both grafts led to better fractional shortening (AdCMVhBcl-2/mH9c2: 0.21+/-0.03; mH9c2: 0.21+/-0.04; control: 0.15+/-0.03; P=0.04) and ejection fraction (AdCMVhBcl-2/mH9c2: 47.0+/-6.2; mH9c2: 48.7+/-6.1; control: 34.3+/-6.0; P=0.02) compared with controls. Importantly, no malignant cells were found in postmortem histology.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Transduction of mH9c2 cardiomyoblasts with AdCMVhBcl-2 increased graft survival in ischemic rat myocardium without causing malignancies. Both AdCMVhBcl-2/mH9c2 and mH9c2 grafts improved LV function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Stanford University, School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA. ingo.kutschka@t-online.de
authors.forename: Ingo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kutschka
authors.forename: Theo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kofidis
authors.forename: Ian Y
authors.initials: IY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Georges
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: von Degenfeld
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zwierzchoniewska
authors.forename: Grant
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hoyt
authors.forename: Takayasu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arai
authors.forename: Darren R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Lebl
authors.forename: Stephen L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Hendry
authors.forename: Ahmad Y
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Sheikh
authors.forename: David T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Cooke
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Connolly
authors.forename: Helen M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Blau
authors.forename: Sanjiv S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Gambhir
authors.forename: Robert C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Robbins
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen; D000007:Abdominal Injuries / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D034861:Abdominal Wall / Q000473:pathology; D000256:Adenoviridae / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D003080:Cold Temperature / Q000009:adverse effects; D003094:Collagen / Q000494:pharmacology; D003673:Defective Viruses / Q000235:genetics; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D019254:Genes, bcl-2; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016027:Heart Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D032446:Myoblasts / Q000637:transplantation*; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000628:therapy*; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000637:transplantation*; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D019076:Transgenes; D016042:Transplantation, Heterotopic; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen