Gene therapy for rat renal anemia with implantation of erythropoietin-transgenic myoblasts.
To investigate whether an erythropoietin (EPO) gene-based therapy could serve as an alternative to the repeated injection of rhEPO in treatment to renal anemia, the genetically modified myoblasts of rats, named Myo/ EPO, were implanted through intramuscular injection to model rats with renal anemia. The hemoglobin (Hb) and hematocrit (HCT) of the rats increased from (92.5 +/-3.0) g/L and 0.29+/-0.04 to the peak values of (103.8 +/-5.0) g/L and 0. 32 +/-0. 04 respectively 14 d after implantation, and sustained the pre-implantation level for 90 d. Otherwise, the control rats implanted with Myo/X, which carried the parent retroviral vector, gradually became severe in anemia. The PCR detection for hEPO cDNA in the rat muscle adjacent to injection sites indicated that the Myo/EPO cells survived for a long period in the muscle of rats. The results primarily demonstrate that myoblast gene transfer of EPO is effective for the treatment of rat renal anemia.
Liu
Y
Y
Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, China.
Wei
H
H
Wu
Z
Z
He
F
F