TY - JOUR
T1 - Lentiviral vectors carrying enhancer elements of Hb9 promoter drive selective transgene expression in mouse spinal cord motor neurons
AU - Peviani, Marco
AU - Kurosaki, Mami
AU - Terao, Mineko
AU - Lidonnici, Dario
AU - Gensano, Francesco
AU - Battaglia, Elisa
AU - Tortarolo, Massimo
AU - Piva, Roberto
AU - Bendotti, Caterina
PY - 2012/3/30
Y1 - 2012/3/30
N2 - Recombinant lentiviral vectors (rLVs) have emerged as versatile tools for gene delivery applications due to a number of favorable features, such as the possibility to maintain long-term transgene expression, the flexibility in the design of the expression cassettes and recent improvements in their biosafety profile. Since rLVs are able to infect multiple cell types including post-mitotic cells such as neurons and skeletal muscle cells, several studies have been exploring their application for the study and cure of neurodegenerative diseases. In particular, the introduction of rLVs carrying cell-type specific promoters could restrict the transgene expression either to neuronal or glial cells, thus helping to better dissect in vivo the role played by these cell populations in several neurodegenerative processes. In this study we developed rLVs carrying motor neuron specific regulatory sequences derived from the promoter of homeobox gene Hb9, and demonstrated that these constructs can represent a suitable platform for selective gene-targeting of murine spinal cord motor neurons, in vivo. This tool could be instrumental in the dissection of the molecular mechanisms involved in the selective degeneration of motor neurons occurring in Motor Neuron Diseases.
AB - Recombinant lentiviral vectors (rLVs) have emerged as versatile tools for gene delivery applications due to a number of favorable features, such as the possibility to maintain long-term transgene expression, the flexibility in the design of the expression cassettes and recent improvements in their biosafety profile. Since rLVs are able to infect multiple cell types including post-mitotic cells such as neurons and skeletal muscle cells, several studies have been exploring their application for the study and cure of neurodegenerative diseases. In particular, the introduction of rLVs carrying cell-type specific promoters could restrict the transgene expression either to neuronal or glial cells, thus helping to better dissect in vivo the role played by these cell populations in several neurodegenerative processes. In this study we developed rLVs carrying motor neuron specific regulatory sequences derived from the promoter of homeobox gene Hb9, and demonstrated that these constructs can represent a suitable platform for selective gene-targeting of murine spinal cord motor neurons, in vivo. This tool could be instrumental in the dissection of the molecular mechanisms involved in the selective degeneration of motor neurons occurring in Motor Neuron Diseases.
KW - Cell targeting
KW - Motor neurons
KW - Promoters
KW - Viral vectors
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84856064875&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84856064875&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2011.12.024
DO - 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2011.12.024
M3 - Article
C2 - 22245491
AN - SCOPUS:84856064875
VL - 205
SP - 139
EP - 147
JO - Journal of Neuroscience Methods
JF - Journal of Neuroscience Methods
SN - 0165-0270
IS - 1
ER -