1. ¹Laboratoire de Génétique, Département Génétique, Développement et Pathologie Moléculaire, Institut Cochin (INSERM, CNRS, Paris V University), Paris, France
2. ²Department of Biochemical Sciences and Molecular Biotechnologies, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy
3. ³Institut de Génétique Moléculaire, CNRS UMR 5535, Montpellier, France
4. ⁴Unité de Neuropathologie, Département de Neuropédiatrie, Hôpital Armand Trousseau, Paris, France
5. ⁵Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

Correspondence: C Caillaud, Laboratoire de Génétique, Département GDPM, Institut Cochin, 24 rue du Faubourg Saint Jacques, 75014 Paris, France

⁶Current address: Department of Medical Biochemistry, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj, Romania

Received 7 March 2003; Accepted 14 April 2003.

Abstract

Sandhoff disease is a severe inherited neurodegenerative disorder resulting from deficiency of the -subunit of hexosaminidases A and B, lysosomal hydrolases involved in the degradation of G_M2 ganglioside and related metabolites. Currently, there is no viable treatment for the disease. Here, we show that adenovirus-mediated transfer of the -subunit of -hexosaminidase restored Hex A and Hex B activity after infection of Sandhoff fibroblasts. Gene transfer following intracerebral injection in a murine model of Sandhoff disease resulted in near-normal level of enzymatic activity in the entire brain at the different doses tested. The addition of hyperosmotic concentrations of mannitol to the adenoviral vector resulted in an enhancement of vector diffusion in the injected hemisphere. Adenoviral-induced lesions were found in brains injected with a high dose of the vector, but were not detected in brains injected with 100-fold lower doses, even in the presence of mannitol. Our data underline the advantage of the adjunction of mannitol to low doses of the adenoviral vector, allowing a high and diffuse transduction efficiency without viral cytotoxicity.