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Department of Human Genetics, Gene Therapy and Molecular Medicine, The Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York.
Correspondence to Dr. Yiannis A. Ioannou, Department of Human Genetics, Gene Therapy, and Molecular Medicine, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1498, New York NY 10029-6574. Phone: 212-659-6720; Fax: 212-348-3605; E-mail: ioanny01{at}doc.mssm.edu
| Introduction |
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Lysosomal storage diseases (LSD) are a group of approximately three dozen
heterogeneous human disorders characterized by the accumulation of undigested
macromolecules within the lysosomes (Table
1), resulting in an increase in the size and number of these
organelles (4). In 1965, Hers
(5) developed the concept of
LSD to explain the relationship between
-glucosidase and Pompe disease.
Initially, it was ambiguous whether LSD arose by lack of degradation or by
increased synthesis of the accumulated substrates; however, experimentally
induced lysosomal storage of compounds such as sucrose and dextran seemed to
suggest the former alternative
(6). LSD are generally
classified by the accumulated substrate
(7), and they include
sphingolipidoses, glycoproteinoses, mucolipidoses, mucopolysaccharidoses, and
others. It is now known that the LSD result from a deficiency of a specific
lysosomal enzyme or protein; however, it is still unclear how storage of
accumulated substrates relates to the pathology seen in many of these
disorders.
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With a few exceptions, these disorders lead to a severe neuro-degenerative phenotype (Table 1), which further complicates potential treatment modalities, including gene therapy. In some diseases (e.g., Gaucher, Niemann-Pick, Tay-Sachs, and Schindler), milder or late-onset subtypes have been identified, owing to the presence of residual enzymatic activity. These subtypes and variants demonstrate that even low levels (1 to 5% of normal) of enzyme activity can alter a severe neurodegenerative disease course to a milder, often non-neurologic phenotype. It should be noted, however, that these low residual activities are present in all cells or at least in those that require these enzymes. This is an important point that must be taken into consideration when developing enzyme or gene therapy protocols. Thus, replacing 1 to 5% of the circulating enzyme in these disorders may not be sufficient to revert the disease phenotype to that seen in the milder forms.
| Lysosomal Storage Diseases as Therapeutic Models |
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Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) studies (13) yielded analogous results. Most BMT recipients do not experience neurologic or intellectual improvement, and most have a prolonged clinical course before experiencing a neurologic demise. These studies reflect the present limitations of BMT for the treatment of LSD with significant neurologic involvement and emphasize the need to develop novel strategies to treat LSD whose primary site of pathology is the central nervous system (CNS).
Clearly, the LSD have been invaluable paradigms for the development of novel therapeutic strategies such as enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) and will continue to serve as excellent model systems in which to develop and evaluate new disease treatments.
| Lessons from Enzyme Replacement in Animal Models |
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-Liduronidase show substantial
decreases in storage in liver, spleen, and kidney, but none in heart
(15,
16). At low doses, only liver
Kupffer cells are cleared, whereas at high doses, both Kupffer cells and
hepatocytes are cleared (16).
MPS type VI cats administered multiple injections of
N-acetylgalactosamine-4-sulfatase show reversal of lysosomal
accumulation in liver and heart
(17), but heart depletion is
dependent on dose (18).
Early studies of ERT in humans with LSD also provide evidence of catabolism
of accumulated substrates in tissues of patients. For example, some patients
with glycogenosis type II administered human or Aspergillus niger
-glucosidase show decreases in glycogen accumulation in liver
(19). Also, purified human
acid ß-glucosidase is capable of reducing storage in liver, red blood
cells, lymphocytes, and platelets in patients with Gaucher disease
(20). And most importantly,
urinary globoside concentration is significantly decreased in a patient with
Sandhoff disease following infusion of plasma, suggesting a catabolism of
renal glycolipid by active hexosaminidases
(21). Finally, as mentioned
above, the most successful example of ERT is that for Gaucher disease type I
(22). The administration of
recombinant ß-glucosidase in this disease has been an effective mode of
treatment for almost 10 years (reviewed in reference
(23).
The results of these studies, albeit mixed, provide important clues regarding the proper dose and mode of delivery of a therapeutic protein. Clearly, replacing a deficient lysosomal enzyme requires a large dose of recombinant protein; this has major implications for gene replacement endeavors.
| Gene Therapy for LSD |
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Thus, the development of novel strategies to deliver genes to neurons and other neural cells throughout the CNS is necessary to achieve the continuous expression of the proper therapeutic enzyme and correction of the metabolic defect. The main obstacles to this goal are the difficulty in delivering genes to the CNS, and, within the CNS, the limited accessibility of neurons, the main site of neuropathology in the LSD, to the therapeutic gene. To overcome these obstacles, novel "global neural delivery" and "neural cell targeting" strategies must be developed.
Early efforts to solve the above-mentioned problems involved using viral vectors to deliver genes directly into the CNS and were of limited success. For example, herpes virus vectors have been used to express the lysosomal enzyme ß-glucuronidase in the brains of mice following stereotactic injection. However, very few cells were transduced and they remained clustered near the injection tract (24). Furthermore, issues of cytotoxicity remain a problem with herpes virus vectors. Adenovirus vectors have also been stereotactically introduced into the brain and have been used to express various marker proteins. However, analogous to the results obtained with the herpes virus vectors, the percentage of cells that was transduced in vivo was very low and the cells did not appear to migrate significantly from the site of injection (reviewed in reference (25). In addition, questions remain regarding the persistence of expression in various neural cells using viral vectors. Alternatively, nonviral delivery systems have been used to express genes in the brains of animals, but these also have had limited success (reviewed in reference (26). Thus, little progress has been made regarding the in vivo delivery of genes to the brain and the proper expression of these genes in neural cells. Moreover, efforts to deliver genes to the entire brain (i.e., global CNS delivery) have lagged behind, mostly because of the presence of the BBB and the failure of intravenously administered gene delivery vehicles to cross this barrier. An approach with a high potential for achieving global neural gene delivery involves the transient disruption of the BBB and injection of nonviral DNA delivery vehicles. Although the transient disruption of the BBB has been carried out successfully both in animals (27) and in humans for the delivery of chemotherapeutic agents to combat brain tumors (28), delivery of gene packages has not been attempted until now.
We have made a number of assumptions to devise a scheme for effective delivery of genes to the CNS. First, polycationic polypeptides that can complex and compact the plasmid DNA are available. Second, these compacted DNA packages can be targeted via specific cell ligands for plasma membrane binding and initial internalization. Third, endocytosed DNA packages can be designed to bypass the endosomal/lysosomal system. Fourth, nuclear localization signals in these packages will ensure efficient nuclear localization. We propose that all of the above prerequisites can be met by the use of in vivo selected peptide sequences fused to the small, DNA-compacting protein protamine. The following discussion describes our approach to formulating these DNA packages, encoding the Aequorea victoria green fluorescence protein (GFP), which can cross the BBB and transduce neural cells.
DNA Compaction
An important consideration, for crossing the BBB in particular and for any
nonviral gene delivery vehicle in general, is the size of the DNA complex.
Recent work on poly-L-lysine (PLL) as a condensing moiety for DNA has
identified conditions by which the size of the PLL-DNA complex can be
controlled and reduced to approximately 20 nm, compatible not only with
endocytic uptake (limit approximately 100 nm), but also for diffusion through
various tissues in vivo (see below). Furthermore, even smaller DNA
particles can be procured by using PLL of lower molecular weight
(approximately 3.5 kD), which has the added advantage of reduced toxicity. It
has also been shown that derivatization of PLL with appropriate glycans
improves cellular transfection and transduction, presumably attributable to a
more efficient uptake of the complex
(29) and/or decreased
toxicity. Finally, PLL is easily derivatized biochemically and thus can
provide extremely useful experimental data relevant to the development of the
conjugate artificial vector that will eventually be obtained by recombinant
DNA techniques.
Alternatively, salmon protamine (SP), a protein found naturally complexed with DNA at high concentrations in spermatozoa, can be used. This small 4-kD arginine-rich cationic protein can be engineered as a fusion protein to any cell-specific peptide (see below), resulting in a cell-targeted chimeric protein that can bind to the expression construct DNA.
To obtain complexes between pGL, a 5-kb plasmid encoding GFP driven by the cytomegalovirus promoter, and either of the DNA-compacting proteins, PLL (approximately 22.5 kD) or SP (approximately 4 kD), we used a published procedure with appropriate modifications (30). By tightly controlling the DNA:protein ratio, reaction volume, timing, order of addition, and salt concentration, we have consistently obtained apparently torroidal PLL-DNA and SP-DNA particles of approximately 10 to 20 nm in diameter, as assessed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) (Figure 1). Preliminary TEM evidence suggests that by using PLL 3.5 kD, the diameter of the torroidal complexes can be further reduced to <10 nm, which should facilitate intercellular movement.
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Cell-Specific Targeting and Endosomal Escape
The choice of targeting ligand depends on the cell type to be targeted and
would preferably be a peptide recognized by a receptor (not necessarily a
protein) that undergoes endocytosis. Although most endocytosed plasma membrane
proteins/receptors enter the endosomal/lysosomal system, recent evidence
suggests that an alternate nonendosomal uptake system is functional in most
cells (31). Support for the
existence of this uptake system has recently been generated through studies of
the small DNA virus, SV40, which apparently enters cells in an
endosome-independent manner involving noncoated, caveolae-like vesicles
(32). In addition to SV40,
several receptors are internalized via this system (reviewed in reference
(33), making it an attractive
targeting pathway that can bypass the problems and limitations associated with
entering clathrin-coated endosomes.
The recent availability of phage peptide display libraries allows the rapid selection of small peptides with specific binding properties. Phage display libraries have been used in several in vitro selection procedures to isolate ligands that bind to specific proteins (34) and recently in an in vivo system to isolate peptides that bind to specific mouse organs (35).
Using A431 cells, a commercially available, seven amino acid Escherichia coli phage display library was used to determine whether small peptides that undergo internalization via an endosome-independent pathway could be isolated. Cells were plated in culture dishes and the phage library, representing about 5 x 109 independent phage particles, was allowed to adsorb onto the cell monolayer. The rationale for this experimental setup was the following: Phage that were endocytosed via an endosome-dependent pathway would be partially or completely destroyed in the lysosomal system, whereas phage that were internalized by an endosome-independent pathway would be left intact and could be recovered by infecting fresh Escherichia coli. The cells were subsequently washed to remove any phage particles that had not been internalized, lysed, and used to infect competent Escherichia coli cells to recover viable phage particles. Recovered phage were expanded en masse and used for another round of adsorption onto A431 cells as above. This procedure was repeated three times to reduce or eliminate background, and the phage recovered after the third round were sequenced to determine the identity of the displayed peptides (Figure 2). The peptides identified by this procedure (out of a pool of > 109 particles) show a consensus sequence in 5 of 10 sequences. The proline at position 4 (Figure 2) suggests that these phage particles were endocytosed and escaped endosomal degradation by an analogous mechanism, probably via the same receptor system. This consensus, hydrophobic-X-Pro-X-positively charged (Gln or Asn), may be important in endocytosis and endosome escape. Furthermore, analysis of peptides capable of binding to MHC class I receptors reveals a striking similarity between the isolated peptides and MHC binding peptides, which also contain proline and glycine in similar positions.
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Thus, in vivo screening of phage display libraries can lead to the isolation of small peptides with novel and desirable cell targeting and uptake characteristics. Such screening procedures can easily be adapted to the isolation of peptides taken up by specific cell types, such as neuronal cells, by an endosome-independent pathway for delivery of DNA constructs to the nucleus.
Nuclear Localization
Once the vector DNA complex is released into the cytosol of the targeted
cells, the DNA must gain access to the cell nucleus. Nuclear targeting can be
achieved by incorporation of a nuclear localization signal into the
DNA-containing complex. Such signals have been well characterized for several
mammalian and viral proteins and appear to be small, positively charged
peptides of about 7 to 10 residues. Nuclear targeting is particularly
important for cells that do not actively divide. However, use of PLL or
protamine to formulate the DNA complex may obviate the need for a nuclear
localization signal, because these polycations are already effectively
targeted to the nucleus.
Global Neural Delivery
A method to bypass the BBB is necessary to access the CNS in a global
manner. The extensive vascularization of the brain provides an attractive
delivery route. However, the BBB prevents the passage of macromolecules from
the circulation to the CNS parenchyma. An approach that can be used to deliver
DNA packages to the brain is the transient opening of the BBB by the
intracarotid injection of hyperosmolar solutions of mannitol or other agents
(36). Electron microscopic
observations have confirmed that hyperosmolar solutions cause dehydration and
shrinkage of vascular endothelial cells, thereby transiently relaxing the
tight junctions and opening the intercellular spaces (reviewed in reference
(37). This method provides the
means to globally deliver relatively large DNA packages (10 to 20 nm) to the
brain.
In humans, hyperosmolar BBB disruption has been applied to patients for the treatment of certain brain tumors (38). The therapeutic effectiveness of the procedure has been limited due to its cytotoxicity to normal cells (39), resulting from the high concentration of cytotoxic drugs delivered to the entire CNS parenchyma. These observations attest to the effectiveness of this strategy as a global CNS delivery system. Moreover, few complications have been reported in patients (40) or animals undergoing short-term experiments (41), thereby justifying its use to deliver nontoxic, therapeutic DNA vector constructs to the brain parenchyma.
To test this CNS delivery approach, protein-DNA complexes were infused by intracarotid injection into rats after BBB disruption. Neural cell transduction by uptake of protein-DNA packages was judged by GFP expression in rats, which were sacrificed 5 d after treatment and examined by confocal microscopy. Numerous GFP-positive parenchymal cells were detected in the infused animals (Figure 3). In addition, positive neural cells can be seen expressing GFP, suggesting that the compacted DNA packages can be endocytosed by all neural cells. Thus, the transient disruption of the BBB and infusion of compacted DNA packages can accomplish the initial requirement of global neural delivery of therapeutic genes to the brain.
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| Conclusion |
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| Acknowledgments |
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| References |
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-galactosidase from Ficin. Pediatr Res7
: 694-698,1973
-Glucosidase
administration: Experiences in two patients with glycogen storage disease
compared with animal experiments. In: Enzyme Therapy in Genetic
Diseases, edited by Desnick RJ, Bernlohr RW, Krivit W, Baltimore,
Williams & Wilkins, 1973, pp191
-194
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