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Published on: March 15, 2019
Axonal-transport-mediated gene transduction in the interior of rat bone
Toshitaka Okabayashi1, Kuniaki Nakanishi, Toyokazu Tsuchihara
1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, National Defense Medical College, Saitama, Japan. t-okabayashi@umin.ac.jp
Background:
Gene transduction has been considered advantageous for the sustained delivery of proteins to specific target tissues. However, in the case of hard tissues, such as bone, local gene delivery remains problematic owing to anatomical accessibility limitations of the target sites.
Methodology/Principal Findings:
Here, we evaluated the feasibility of exogenous gene transduction in the interior of bone via axonal transport following intramuscular administration of a nonviral vector. A high expression level of the transduced gene was achieved in the tibia ipsilateral to the injected tibialis anterior muscle, as well as in the ipsilateral sciatic nerve and dorsal root ganglia. In sciatic transection rats, the gene expression level was significantly lowered in bone.
Conclusions/Significance:
These results suggest that axonal transport is critical for gene transduction. Our study may provide a basis for developing therapeutic methods for efficient gene delivery into hard tissues.
