Total Vascular Exclusion Safely Facilitates Liver Specific Gene Transfer by the HVJ (Sendai Virus)-Liposome Method in Rats - siRNA Liposomes

Total Vascular Exclusion Safely Facilitates Liver Specific Gene Transfer by the HVJ (Sendai Virus)-Liposome Method in Rats
May 2006
Yujo Kawashita?, Hikaru Fujioka?, Akira Ohtsuru?, Hiroaki Kuroda?, Susumu Eguchi?, Yasufumi Kaneda?, Shunichi Yamashita? and Takashi Kanematsu
Journal of Surgical Research
Background
Most virus mediated transfection systems are efficient; however, their highly immunogenic properties do tend to cause clinical problems. HVJ-liposome vector is a hybrid vector consisting of liposome and inactivated sendai virus (hemagglutinating virus of Japan HVJ), which has been reported to be have a low immunogenicity, while it can also be repeatedly administered. To enhance the transfection efficiency, especially in the liver, we investigated the efficacy of total vascular exclusion (TVE) during the portal vein injection (PVI) of the vectors.
Materials and methods
?-galactosidase and luciferase expression were used as reporter genes. Wistar rats were injected with HVJ-liposome through PVI without TVE (PVI group, n = 10) or PVI with TVE (PVI + TVE group, n = 10). The control rats were infused with equal volumes of saline through the portal vein (control group n = 12). The transfection efficiencies were assessed by ?-galactosidase staining and a luciferase assay. Biochemical and histological analyses were performed to evaluate the tissue toxicity after gene transfer.
Results
The reporter genes expression in the liver dramatically increased after PVI + TVE in comparison to after PVI alone (1.2 ? 105 versus 1.5 ? 104 RLU/mg protein, P < 0.05 according to a luciferase assay). Notably, the extrahepatic ?leaky? transgene expression could be minimized by PVI + TVE, whereas the general condition remained unchanged according to both the biochemical parameters and histological findings.
Conclusions
The present data indicate that PVI + TVE may thus facilitate the liver-specific gene delivery using the HVJ-liposome method and this modality might also be applicable to other gene transfer systems.
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