Recombinant adeno-associated virus-mediated kallikrein gene therapy reduces hypertension and attenuates its cardiovascular injuries.

Abstract

Gene therapy of hypertension requires long-term expression of a therapeutic gene to achieve stable reduction of blood pressure. Human tissue kallikrein (HK) cleaves kininogen to produce a potent vasoactive peptide kinin, which plays an important role in the regulation of the cardiovascular and renal functions. In the present study, we have delivered human kallikrein cDNA with an rAAV vector to explore the potential therapeutic effects of kallikrein on hypertension and related secondary complications. A single tail vein injection of the rAAV-HK vector into the adult spontaneously hypertensive rats resulted in a significant reduction (12.0+/-2.55 mmHg, P<0.05, n=6, ANOVA) of the systolic blood pressure from 2 weeks after vector injection, when compared with the control rAAV-lacZ vector-injected rats. Weekly blood pressure monitoring showed stable hypertension-reduction effect throughout the course of the 20-week experiments. In addition, total urine microalbumin contents decreased as a result of rAAV-HK treatment. Histological analysis of various tissues showed remarkable amelioration of cardiovascular hypertrophy, renal injury and collagen depositions in the rAAV-treated group. Finally, persistent expression of the transgene product HK was confirmed by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. We conclude that rAAV-mediated HK delivery rendered a long-term and stable reduction of hypertension and protected against renal injury, cardiac remodeling in the spontaneously hypertensive rat model. Further studies are warranted for the development of a gene therapy strategy for human hypertension.

• Authors: T Wang, H Li, C Zhao, C Chen, J Li, J Chao, L Chao, X Xiao, D W Wang
• Journal: Gene therapy (Gene Ther) Vol. 11 Issue 17 Pg. 1342-50 (Sep 2004) ISSN: 0969-7128 [Print] England
• PMID: 15175642 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• RNA, Messenger
• Recombinant Fusion Proteins
• Kallikreins

Topics

• Animals
• Cardiovascular Diseases (etiology, metabolism, prevention & control)
• Dependovirus (genetics)
• Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (methods)
• Gene Expression
• Genetic Therapy (methods)
• Genetic Vectors (administration & dosage)
• Hypertension (complications, metabolism, therapy)
• Injections, Intravenous
• Kallikreins (analysis, genetics, metabolism)
• Kidney (chemistry, metabolism)
• Male
• RNA, Messenger (analysis)
• Rats
• Rats, Inbred SHR
• Recombinant Fusion Proteins (genetics)
• Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
• Transduction, Genetic (methods)