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Baculovirus as a new gene delivery vector for stem cell engineering and bone tissue engineering

Gene Therapy volume 14, pages 1417–1424 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Baculovirus has emerged as a novel vector for in vitro and in vivo gene delivery due to its low cytotoxicity and non-replication nature in mammalian cells, but the applications of baculovirus in the genetic modification of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) and tissue engineering are yet to be reported. In this study, we genetically engineered hMSCs with a baculovirus (Bac-CB) expressing bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2). Bac-CB transduction of hMSCs at a multiplicity of infection of 40 triggered effective differentiation of hMSCs into osteoblasts. Supertransduction at day 6 after initial transduction enhanced the BMP-2 expression and further accelerated the in vitro osteogenesis, as confirmed by alkaline phosphatase assay, Alizarin red staining and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis of osteoblastic genes. Implantation of the supertransduced cells at ectopic sites in the nude mice resulted in efficient cell differentiation into osteoblasts at week 2 and induced progressive mineralization and partial bone formation at week 6, as confirmed by hematoxylin and eosin, immunohistochemical and Alizarin red staining. These data collectively demonstrated, for the first time, the potential of baculovirus in hMSCs engineering and implicated its use in bone tissue engineering.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Health Research Institutes (NHRI-EX96-9412EI), National Science Council (NSC 95-2221-E-007-215) and Ministry of Economy Affairs (MOEA 95A0283P2), Taiwan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan

    C-K Chuang, L-Y Sung, W-H Lo, H-C Chen & Y-C Hu

  2. Department of Bioresource Collection and Research Center, Food Industry Research and Development Institute, Hsinchu, Taiwan

    S-M Hwang

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  1. C-K Chuang
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Correspondence to Y-C Hu.

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Chuang, CK., Sung, LY., Hwang, SM. et al. Baculovirus as a new gene delivery vector for stem cell engineering and bone tissue engineering. Gene Ther 14, 1417–1424 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.gt.3302996

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