Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Journal of Virology, February 2003, p. 2768-2774, Vol. 77, No. 4
0022-538X/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.77.4.2768-2774.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
Received 2 August 2002/ Accepted 14 November 2002
|
|
|---|
|
|
|---|
Currently, there are six known AAV serotypes (19). AAV serotype 2 (AAV2), AAV3, and AAV5 are believed to be of human origin since antibodies against them are quite prevalent in the human population. In contrast, antibodies to AAV1 and AAV4 are very common in nonhuman primates (21). Newly isolated AAV6 appears to be a hybrid recombinant between AAV1 and AAV2 (25, 35); however, its origin remains unknown. Although initial gene transfer studies of AAV were largely based on AAV2, recent studies revealed that other serotypes showed a better performance than did AAV2 in different tissues (1, 4, 7, 9, 23, 35). In particular, AAV1 is a much more efficient vector for gene delivery to muscle than is AAV2. This phenomenon was first observed by initial studies using human
1-antitrypsin and erythropoietin genes as reporter genes and subsequently confirmed in the study by Chao et al. using the factor IX gene as the reporter gene (4, 35). The improvement of AAV1 over AAV2 is approximately 10- to 100-fold with the same genome dose and the identical vector construct. This dramatic increase cannot be ascribed to the viral DNA packaged into the capsid because all the vectors are pseudotyped AAV vectors with the AAV2 ITR. Since the rep gene used for AAV1 vector production was also of AAV2 origin, it would not have contributed to such differences in transduction even if the Rep proteins were associated with packaged virions in some ways (16). Thus, the only possible viral elements contributing to such enhancement are located in the AAV1 capsid.
Although we mention only the VP1 protein in describing the results in this study, those mutations would also appear in VP2 and/or VP3 depending on the location of the mutation in VP1. VP1 is only a minor structural protein in the AAV capsid. The major component is actually VP3. However, since all three proteins share the same reading frame, the alterations in various segments would have caused similar changes in VP2 and/or VP3. Changes in vector performance would have to be combined effects of VP1, VP2, and VP3.
The capsid gene of the virus determines the properties of viral particles such as tissue tropism and antigenic properties. The infectivities of AAV1 and AAV2 in muscle are drastically different, although the capsid genes of AAV1 and AAV2 share considerable homology and identity. As shown in Fig. 1B, 83.3% of amino acids in VP1 are identical and 88.9% of them are similar between AAV1 and AAV2 (27, 35). The nonhomologous amino acids consist of only 11.1% of the total amino acid sequences. Interestingly, these nonhomologous amino acids are not uniformly distributed throughout the AAV VP1 gene. They form clusters in several regions exhibiting greater diversities: amino acids 22 to 43, 136 to 163, 191 to 208, 448 to 477, 547 to 558, and 576 to 602. Our hypothesis is that those nonidentical amino acids determine not only antigenic properties of different serotypes but also tissue tropism and hence their performance in transduction. The remarkable differences between AAV1 and AAV2 in transducing muscle provided a possible assay to identify those amino acids. To test this hypothesis, our approach was to move individual regions from AAV1 and AAV2 to make hybrid AAV2/1 capsid vectors and then compare their performance to those of AAV1 vector and AAV2 vector in muscle. Since a series of plasmids had to be constructed, a universal system to name them was adopted (Fig. 1A). In this new naming system, the origins of the helper's rep sequence and cap sequences are clearly identified by numbers following the letter H. The original AAV1 and AAV2 helpers, p5E18 and p5E18(AV1), are therefore named pH21 and pH22, respectively (35). AAV2 helper pH22 contains both rep and cap genes from AAV2, whereas pH21 contains an AAV2 rep and an AAV1 cap gene.
![]() View larger version (60K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 1. (A) Illustration of the nomenclature for hybrid vectors. "H" is abbreviated from "helper." The first numeral indicates the source of the rep gene. "2" means that the rep sequence is from AAV2. The second numeral indicates the source of the cap gene. "2" means that the cap sequence is from AAV2. The third numeral is the source of the hybrid cap sequence. The number after the hyphen indicates the exact sequence of the hybrid region. (B) Alignment of primary protein sequences of AAV1 and AAV2. Nonidentical amino acids are highlighted in the figure. The roman numbers indicate regions that were swapped between AAV1 and AAV2: I to VIII represent amino acids 1 to 112, 113 to 155, 156 to 212, 213 to 423, 424 to 480, 481 to 564, 565 to 669, and 670 to 736, respectively. Heparin binding regions are also marked.
|
The N terminus of VP1 does not contribute to AAV1 tissue tropism for muscle.
The first two vectors tested were pH221-1-351 and pH221-352-736. The plasmid pH221-1-351 carried a hybrid cap gene with amino acids 1 to 351 from AAV1 while pH221-352-736 carried a hybrid cap gene with amino acids 352 to 736 from AAV1. Recombinant AAV vectors with the human factor IX gene under the control of the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter were produced from AAV1 helper pH21, AAV2 helper pH22, pH221-1-351, and pH221-352-736. The vectors were produced by a modified triple plasmid transfection based on calcium phosphate precipitation, which has been described previously (3, 35). Vectors were purified by two rounds of CsCl gradient centrifugation, dialyzed against phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), and stored in PBS with 3% glycerol. To ensure that the same amounts of vectors were used for comparison, vector genome titers were determined by either slot blot hybridization with transgene probes or real-time quantitative PCR with the PRISM/7700 sequence detector (PE Applied Biosystems, Foster City, Calif.) (3). For real-time PCR titration of recombinant AAV preparations, the primer and fluorescent probe sets were selected from the factor IX gene. Primers and internal probe were designed to amplify 134 bp of the human factor IX sequence. The oligonucleotides with sequences TTC GAT CTA CAA AGT TCA CCA TCT ATA AC and AAA CTG GTC CCT TCC ACT TCA G were used as forward and reverse primers, respectively, and the sequence (5'
3') 6-FAM-AAT CTC TAC CTC CTT CAT GGA AGC CAG CA-TAMRA tagged with 6-FAM fluorescent dye at the 5' end and TAMRA quencher at the 3' end was used as a probe. Reactions were performed according to the manufacturer's instructions. The final reaction mix consisted of 900 nM (each) primer; 200 nM probe; 200 M dATP, dCTP, and dGTP; 400 M dUTP; 3.5 mM MgCl2; 8% glycerol; and 1 U of uracil-N-glycosylase in 1x Taqman buffer containing the reference dye ROX and 0.25 U of AmpliTaq Gold polymerase (Perkin-Elmer, Norwalk, Conn.) in a total volume of 25 µl. The cycling conditions consisted of 40 cycles of 95°C for 15 s and 60°C for 1 min. AAV vector DNA samples were prepared by proteinase K digestion overnight, followed by heat inactivation at 100°C for 20 min.
To avoid the complication of the immune response, immunodeficient CD4-knockout mice were used for human factor IX expression in muscle. The performance of these vectors was studied by administering 1011 particles per animal to CD4-knockout mice intramuscularly. Blood samples obtained at various time points by retro-orbital bleeding were assayed for circulating human factor IX in mouse plasma. Levels of human factor IX were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) as described previously (15). Representative results from week 4 data are shown in Fig. 2A.
![]() View larger version (29K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 2. (A) Performance of vectors based on pH221-1-351 and pH221-352-736 in vivo in muscle. Vectors with the human factor IX gene made from AAV1 helpers pH21, pH221-1-351, and pH221-352-736 and AAV2 pH22 were administered to immunodeficient CD4-knockout mice at 1011 particles per animal intramuscularly. The blood obtained by retro-orbital bleeding at week 4 was assayed for human factor IX (hFIX) secretion in mouse plasma. Shown in the figure is the expression level at week 4. (B) The same vectors as in panel A were used in vitro to infect COS cells at a multiplicity of infection of 5,000. The supernatants were harvested at 24 h postinfection. The expression level of human factor IX (hFIX) was measured by ELISA.
|
Main region in AAV1 capsid protein affecting tissue tropism for muscle. To identify specific regions in the AAV1 capsid protein that contribute to the tropism for muscle transduction, hybrid AAV1 and AAV2 helper plasmids with the AAV1 VP1 amino acid sequence 1 to 112, 113 to 155, 156 to 212, 213 to 423, 424 to 480, 481 to 564, 565 to 669, or 670 to 736 substituting for the corresponding AAV2 sequence were constructed. These amino acid sequences represent various clusters of nonidentical amino acid residues between AAV1 and AAV2 (Fig. 1B). Vectors based on these helpers were made by transfection. Unexpectedly, the vector yields from the helpers with AAV1 VP1 amino acids 481 to 564 and 565 to 669 were approximately 10-fold lower than those of AAV1 or AAV2 vectors. Despite the low yield, infectious particles resistant to DNase treatment were formed. This result was confirmed in several preparations with various vector plasmids (data not shown). We concluded that not all capsid regions can be freely swapped from one serotype to another despite their high degree of homology.
The above hybrid vectors expressing the human factor IX gene as a reporter gene were administered to CD4-knockout mice intramuscularly at a dose of 1011 particles per mouse. A representative peak expression profile of human factor IX in mouse plasma at week 6 is presented in Fig. 3. Again AAV1 outperformed AAV2. Only pH221-213-423 nearly reached the level of AAV1 vectors. However, pH221-670-736 was slightly higher than AAV2. Other hybrid vectors show levels of transgene expression comparable to or lower than that of AAV2, despite similar performances as AAV2 in vitro (data not shown). Although actual expression levels of factor IX in these experiments fluctuated over time, the relative differences in expression level remained unchanged for the experimental period (3 months). The result suggests that AAV1 VP1 amino acids 213 to 423 contain a determinant for muscle tropism.
![]() View larger version (21K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 3. Performances of AAV2 vectors with AAV1 epitopes in muscle. AAV-CMV-human factor IX vectors based on AAV2 with AAV1 epitopes were purified by CsCl gradient centrifugation and administered intramuscularly to CD4-knockout mice at a dose of 1011 viral genomes per mouse. Blood from mice was drawn at 6 weeks post-vector administration. The expression levels of human factor IX (hFIX) in mouse plasma were measured by ELISA. Each group consists of four mice. AAV1 and AAV2 vectors with the same transgene were used as controls.
|
![]() View larger version (22K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 4. Performances of AAV1 vectors with AAV2 epitopes in muscle. AAV-CMV-human factor IX vectors based on AAV1 with AAV2 epitopes were purified by CsCl gradient centrifugation and administered intramuscularly to CD4-knockout mice at a dose of 1011 viral genomes per mouse. Blood from mice was drawn at 6 weeks post-vector administration. The expression levels of human factor IX (hFIX) in mouse plasma were measured by ELISA. Each group consists of four mice. AAV1 and AAV2 vectors with the same transgene were used as controls.
|
![]() View larger version (21K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 5. AAV-CMV-human factor IX vectors based on AAV1, AAV2, pH221-213-423, pH221-350-423, or pH212-350-423 were purified by CsCl gradient centrifugation and administered intramuscularly to CD4-knockout mice at a dose of 1011 viral genomes per mouse. Blood from mice was drawn at 6 weeks post-vector administration. The expression levels of human factor IX (hFIX) in mouse plasma were measured by ELISA. Each group consists of four mice. AAV1 and AAV2 vectors with the same transgene were used as controls.
|
vß5 FGFR1 could function as AAV receptors and coreceptors, respectively (22, 29, 30). The expression levels of these molecules in host cells have been found to affect the efficiency of AAV infection. Among the above molecules, HSPG has the strongest affinity to AAV2 virions. Heparin can not only inhibit AAV2 infection completely but also be used to purify AAV2 vectors by column chromatography (28, 36). The binding domains for heparin were shown previously to be located in the second half of the AAV capsid gene (34). AAV6 basically has the same capsid protein as that of AAV1, and it cannot bind to heparin (12). To determine whether heparin binding activity has an effect on the transduction efficiency of AAV1, AAV2, and hybrid vectors, the heparin binding activities of these vectors were examined. As shown in Table 1, vectors based on pH221-213-423 can be inhibited by heparin. This result suggested that vectors from pH221-213-423 inherited the same heparin binding properties from AAV2, which is consistent with previous studies showing that the heparin binding domain is in the C terminus of the AAV2 Cap protein (34). Vectors made from pH221-481-564 and pH221-565-669 could not be tested because of their low titer. |
View this table: [in a new window] |
TABLE 1. Virion properties of hybrid vectors based on AAV1 and AAV2a
|
As shown in Table 1, vectors made from pH221-213-423 could still be inhibited by heparin as well as could AAV2. Since the identified heparin binding domain is in the C terminus of the AAV capsid, the heparin binding properties of this helper plasmid were not altered. Nevertheless, the performance of this vector was greatly improved with amino acids from AAV1 regions. A most likely conclusion is that the heparin binding properties or HSPG receptors do not contribute significantly to AAV1 transduction of muscle. Note that this result does not affect the role of HSPG receptors in the transduction of muscle by AAV2. Since pH221-213-423 vectors retained the antigenic properties of AAV2 and yet gained the ability of AAV1 to transduce muscle at high efficiency, it is likely that the epitopes for the B-cell response and the regions that interact with receptors were not linked to each other.
Although it is thought that receptor-mediated binding and entry into the target cells are the main reason for the differences in transduction of various AAV serotypes, other mechanisms could also play a role. In the case of AAV5, it has been shown elsewhere that there is no direct correlation between transduction efficiency and viral binding to muscle cells, which suggests that endocytic or intracellular pathways play a role in regulating AAV infection (10). Such barriers also affected the level of transduction by AAV2 in various cell lines as reported by Srivastava's group (13, 14). Other members of the parvovirus family also exhibited similar properties. For example, the VP1 N-terminal sequence of canine parvovirus could affect nuclear transport of virions and efficient cell infection (32). In the present study, although it is still unclear what is the exact mechanism by which AAV1 transduces muscle better than does AAV2, we were able to identify domains which are responsible for the differences in performance by a domain-swapping strategy.
One interesting observation is that not all these hybrid vectors could be generated at equal efficiencies. The yields of vectors from pH221-481-564 and pH221-565-669 vectors were low. In contrast, the exchange of the corresponding region of AAV2 with AAV1 still produced AAV vectors at normal yield. It appears that all amino acids need to be coordinated with each other in AAV packaging. This result is also in accordance with previous studies showing that not all epitope insertions could be tolerated in the positions that could be altered (11, 24, 34). Since several vectors could not be tested in vivo, it is hard to rule out their contribution to the transduction of muscle even though we were able to identify several important amino acids.
In this study, all clones were generated through molecular cloning, which has no natural selection for growth advantage. A novel marker rescue system to circumvent the decreased packaging efficiency has been proposed by Bowles et al. (2a). Those naturally occurring mutants based on homologous recombination would select for mutants with strong viability and complement those mutants that cannot be made by a cloning strategy (2a).
Vectors with the C-terminal part of VP1 (amino acids 351 to 736) inherited the muscle tropism of AAV1. In combination with the observation that vectors made from pH221-213-423 exhibit AAV1's tropism for muscle, we draw the conclusion that amino acids 350 to 423 are important in determining AAV1 tropism. This hypothesis is confirmed by experimental results shown in Fig. 5. As seen in the alignment of AAV1 and AAV2, the differences between AAV1 and AAV2 lie in two amino acids: one at position 363I
V and the other at 427E
D. This result is not expected, as these two amino acids are not located in any of those regions clustered with nonidentical amino acids. In addition, these amino acids are considered to be structurally similar. Structural analysis of parvovirus capsid found that the degree of conservation of surface-exposed residues is lower than average (6, 26). However, the location of these amino acids would be consistent with the putative secondary structure of AAV capsid proteins predicted by Chapman and Rossmann (5, 6, 17, 31). According to their structural analysis of various parvovirus capsid proteins, AAV should have five putative loop regions. It is interesting that these two amino acids fall into the regions that were designated loop III (amino acids 346 to 392) and loop IV (amino acids 420 to 646). Our results may suggest that loop III and loop IV are major regions that determine AAV receptors and hence tissue tropism. On the other hand, simply substituting these two amino acid sequences in pH221-350-423 and pH212-350-423 failed to restore the full vector efficiency to that of AAV1 or pH221-213-423 (Fig. 5). Because of the complexity of the AAV capsid structure, additional elements may be contributing to the difference between AAV1 and AAV2. These results reveal the limitations of our present strategy, which takes into consideration only linear epitopes and primary amino acid sequences and thus may oversimplify the three-dimensional virion structure.
This study was supported by NIH grant R01HL069051 to W.X.
|
|
|---|
vß5 integrin: a co-receptor for adeno-associated virus type 2 infection. Nat. Med. 5:78-82.[CrossRef][Medline]
This article has been cited by other articles:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»