Abstract
Our long-term goal is to prevent or reverse atherosclerosis by delivering gene therapy from stably transduced endothelial cells (EC). We previously reported that EC-directed gene therapy with a helper-dependent adenovirus (HDAd) expressing apolipoprotein A-I (apo A-I) retarded development of atherosclerosis in rabbit carotid arteries over a 1-month interval. However, a 70% decline in apo A-I expression during this time raised concerns about long-term efficacy of this approach. Here we report use of several approaches aimed either at preventing this decline or at increasing apo A-I expression from HDAd at all time points: codon optimization, deletion of 3' untranslated sequences, substitution of a synthetic mammalian-based promoter (4XETE) for the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter, and co-transduction with an HDAd expressing interleukin-10. We tested these approaches using plasmid transfection of cultured EC and in vivo transduction of rabbit carotid artery EC. Codon optimization did not increase apo A-I expression. Deletion of 3' untranslated sequences extinguished apo A-I expression. Both substitution of 4XETE for the CMV promoter and expression of interleukin-10 stabilized apo A-I expression in vivo, although at the cost of lower early (3-day) expression levels. Surprisingly, both interventions stabilized apo A-I expression without altering the rate at which HDAd genomes were lost. These data establish that transgene expression from HDAd in EC is inherently stable in vivo and suggest that the early decline of CMV promoter-driven expression from HDAd-transduced EC is due neither to active downregulation of transcription nor to loss of HDAd genomes. Instead, apparent loss of expression from the CMV promoter appears to be a consequence of early (3-day) upregulation of CMV promoter activity via inflammatory pathways. Our results yield new paradigms to explain the early loss of genomes and transgene expression after in vivo gene transfer. These new paradigms will redirect strategies for achieving high-level, stable expression of transgenes in EC.