[Construction of recombinant adeno-associated virus vector co-expressing hVEGF165 and hBMP-7 genes].
OBJECTIVE
To construct the recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vector co-expressing hVEGF165 and hBMP-7 depending on internal ribosome entry site (IRES) sequence, to measure the virus titer and to verify the correct recombination.


METHODS
The AAV helper-free system was used to generate the rAAV co-expressing hVEGF165 and hBMP-7 genes. The IRES sequence from the bicistronic eukaryotic expression plasmid pIRES was cut down and subcloned into the ITR/MCS containing vector pAAV-MCS to get pAAV-MCS A-IRES-MCS B, in which upstream MCS A and downstream MCS B was constructed. The hVEGF165 and hBMP-7 genes were amplified by PCR and inserted into MCS A and MCS B respectively. The recombinant expression plasmid pAAV-hVEGF165-IRES-hBMP-7 was co-transfected into AAV-293 cells with pHelper and pAAV-RC for packaging of recombinant AAV. The green fluorescent protein (GFP) labeled rAAV-IRES-GFP was simultaneously packaged by using the parallel plasmid pAAV-IRES-GFP. The efficiency of rAAV packaging was monitored under fluorescent microscope and recombinant viral particles were harvested from infected AAV-293 cells. The virus titer was measured through infecting AAV-HT1080 cells, and the recombinant rAAV-hVEGF165-IRES-hBMP-7 was verified by PCR of the exogenous interest genes of hVEGF165 and hBMP-7.


RESULTS
The recombinant plasmid pAAV-hVEGF165-IRES-hBMP-7 was verified by double digestion. Using the AAV helper-free system, GFP expression could be observed under fluorescent microscope 72 hours after triple plasmid co-transfection and the system provided a high packing ratio of 95%-100%. The rAAV has a high purity and high titer of 5.5 x 10(11) vp/mL, and AAV-HT1080 cell could be infected at a ratio of 90%. The recombinant virus was confirmed by PCR of exogenous hBMP-7 and hVEGF165 genes.


CONCLUSIONS
Recombinant rAAV-hVEGF165-IRES-hBMP-7 was successfully constructed with a high virus titer, which may offer the basement of in vitro and in vivo experiments of hVEGF165 and hBMP-7 co-expressing for gene therapy of bone regeneration.
Huang
Xianghui
X
Department of Orthopedics, the Second Affiliated Hospital of School of Medicine, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an Shaanxi, 710004, PR China.
Shi
Zhibin
Z
Wang
Kunzheng
K
Dang
Xiaoqian
X
Yang
Pei
P
Yu
Pengbo
P
D000818:Animals; D055419:Bone Morphogenetic Protein 7 / Q000235:genetics*; D000229:Dependovirus / Q000235:genetics*; D015870:Gene Expression; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006801:Humans; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D012270:Ribosomes / Q000235:genetics; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000235:genetics*
D055419:Bone Morphogenetic Protein 7; C467484:VEGFA protein, human; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A