Selective uptake and sustained expression of AAV vectors following subcutaneous delivery

Recombinant adeno-associated viral (rAAV) vectors are capable of long-term expression of secreted and intracellular proteins following delivery to muscle, liver, and the central nervous system. In this study, we have evaluated subcutaneous injection of rAAV encoding a variety of transgenes as an alternative route of administration for the systemic delivery of therapeutic proteins.

rAAV vectors encoding the human factor IX, human interferon-alpha 2a, murine erythropoietin (epo), and Escherichia coli lacZ genes were used for subcutaneous delivery into mature immunocompetent mice. Expression of factor IX and interferon in mouse serum was measured by ELISA. Expression of Epo was monitored by an increase in hemotocrit and by RIA. The tissue tropism of AAV transduction was determined by histochemistry following administration of the lacZ vector.

Long-term protein expression (at least one year) is demonstrated in the serum of immunocompetent mice following subcutaneous delivery of AAV vectors encoding the human factor IX and interferon genes. The murine epo gene delivered via this route resulted in levels of Epo that correlate with increased hematocrits of up to 90% for a duration of nine months. rAAV encoding the lacZ gene revealed that the panniculus carnosus, a skeletal muscle layer of the skin, was transduced upon subcutaneous administration.

This study shows that long-term expression of secreted proteins can be achieved using rAAV vectors injected subcutaneously as a single administration. The observation that the panniculus carnosus is the primary tissue transduced by rAAV illustrates the high tropism of rAAV for skeletal muscle.