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Mifepristone-inducible transgene expression in neural progenitor cells in vitro and in vivo

Gene Therapy volume 23, pages 424–437 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

Numerous gene and cell therapy strategies are being developed for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders. Many of these strategies use constitutive expression of therapeutic transgenic proteins, and although functional in animal models of disease, this method is less likely to provide adequate flexibility for delivering therapy to humans. Ligand-inducible gene expression systems may be more appropriate for these conditions, especially within the central nervous system (CNS). Mifepristone’s ability to cross the blood–brain barrier makes it an especially attractive ligand for this purpose. We describe the production of a mifepristone-inducible vector system for regulated expression of transgenes within the CNS. Our inducible system used a lentivirus-based vector platform for the ex vivo production of mifepristone-inducible murine neural progenitor cells that express our transgenes of interest. These cells were processed through a series of selection steps to ensure that the cells exhibited appropriate transgene expression in a dose-dependent and temporally controlled manner with minimal background activity. Inducible cells were then transplanted into the brains of rodents, where they exhibited appropriate mifepristone-inducible expression. These studies detail a strategy for regulated expression in the CNS for use in the development of safe and efficient gene therapy for neurological disorders.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Trena Clarke (University of Pennsylvania), Kelli DeJohn, Jacalyn McHugh, Roksana Elder, Weidong Xiong and Vaithi Arumugaswami (CSMC) for their logistical and technical help, personal assistance and advice. We also appreciate the technical assistance from the Protein Expression Laboratory at NCI-Frederick, the Vector Core at the University of Pennsylvania and the Vector Core (Arumugaswami) laboratory of the Cedars-Sinai Regenerative Medicine Institute. Assistance from the members of several flow cytometry core laboratories was especially appreciated, including Brion Shreffler (University of Pennsylvania), Martha Kirby and Stacie Anderson (NHGRI/NIH) as well as Patricia Lin and Gillian Hultin (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center). We would also like to thank Barrington Burnett (NINDS/NIH) and Mark Burcin (Baylor College of Medine) and Soshana Svendsen (Cedars-Sinai) for advice and critical analysis. We also thank the NIH AIDS Reagent Program, Webster Cavenee (Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research), Steven Goldman (University of Rochester), Hansjörg Hauser (Universität Oldenburg) and Tyler Jacks (MIT) for the generous gifts of plasmids. This research was supported in part by NIH Grant T32-HD043021-04 (to TMP), NIH R01-NS08867 Grant (to JHW), the Intramural Research Program of the NIH/NINDS (to KF) and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute institutional funding (to CNS, TMP). TMP was also supported by the Diana and Steve Marienhoff Fashion Industries Guild Endowed Fellowship in Pediatric Neuromuscular Diseases.

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  1. B E Hjelm and C Grunseich: Co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    B E Hjelm, G Gowing, P Avalos, J Tian, B C Shelley, K Narwani, C N Svendsen & T M Pierson

  2. Neurogenetics Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA

    C Grunseich, M Mooney, Y Shi & K H Fischbeck

  3. Departments of Pediatrics and Pathobiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    J H Wolfe

  4. Stokes Research Institute, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, PA, USA

    J H Wolfe

  5. Department of Pediatrics and Neurology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    T M Pierson

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  1. B E Hjelm
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Correspondence to T M Pierson.

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Hjelm, B., Grunseich, C., Gowing, G. et al. Mifepristone-inducible transgene expression in neural progenitor cells in vitro and in vivo. Gene Ther 23, 424–437 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/gt.2016.13

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