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Adenovirus-mediated interleukin-2 gene therapy of nociception

Gene Therapy volume 10, pages 1392–1399 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

The effect of adenovirus-mediated interleukin-2 (IL-2) gene on rat basal nociceptive response and chronic neuropathic pain was explored. The paw withdrawal latency induced by radiant heat was used to evaluate the antinociceptive effect of adenovirus type 5 (Ad5) and Ad5-IL-2. The results showed that intrathecal delivery of Ad5-IL-2 exhibited obvious antinociceptive effects on basal nociceptive response and chronic neuropathic pain, which were maintained for 3 and 4 weeks, respectively. This suggested that the antinociceptive effect of Ad5-IL-2 on chronic neuropathic pain was greater than its effect on basal nociceptive response. Human IL-2 mRNA was detected by in situ hybridization in the spinal pia mater and parenchyma of the lumbar, sacral, thoracic and cervical regions, and gray matter had higher level of IL-2 expression than white matter. These data demonstrated that the IL-2 gene was transfected into spinal cord regions relevant to pain modulation. The expressed IL-2 protein profile in spinal cord detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay coincided almost exactly with its antinociceptive effect. This supported the hypothesis that the therapeutic effect of IL-2 gene was related to IL-2 protein expression. The study indicates that intrathecal delivery of adenovirus-mediated IL-2 gene has a relatively long antinociceptive effect.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Professor Gang Pei, Dr Martin Ramsden and Guangcheng Ji for their invaluable scientific support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, People's Republic of China

    M Z Yao, J F Gu, J H Wang, L Y Sun, H Liu & X Y Liu

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  1. M Z Yao
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  2. J F Gu
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  3. J H Wang
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  6. X Y Liu
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Yao, M., Gu, J., Wang, J. et al. Adenovirus-mediated interleukin-2 gene therapy of nociception. Gene Ther 10, 1392–1399 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.gt.3301992

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