[Construction of recombinant adenovirus expressing shRNA targeting human leukocyte-derived arginine aminopeptidase...

To construct the recombinant adenovirus expressing small hairpin RNA (shRNA) targeting human leukocyte-derived arginine aminopeptidase (LRAP) gene and silence the expression of LRAP in human retinal microvascular endothelial cells (HRMECs).

Three pairs of oligonucleotides coding for shRNAs targeting human LRAP gene were designed and synthesized, and were cloned into the shuttle vector pRNAT-H1.1/Adeno after annealing. The three constructed shuttle plasmids, through homologous recombination with adenoviral backbone vector pAdEasy-1, were transformed into E.coli BJ5183-AD- to produce recombinant adenoviral plasmids. And then the recombinants linearized with Pac I were transfected into 293a cells to package adenoviruses. After amplification and titter determination, the recombinant adenoviruses were used to infect the primary HRMECs. Quantitative real-time PCR was taken to determine the relative amount of LRAP mRNA to screen the adenovirus with the highest silencing efficiency. The level of LRAP protein after RNA interference in HRMECs was further determined by Western blotting.

PCR, restriction digestion and DNA sequencing confirmed that the purpose shRNA-coding sequences were correctly inserted into the shuttle vectors and adenoviral plasmids, and the recombinant adenoviruses were packaged successfully in 293a cells. The most effective adenovirus with the silencing efficiency up to 79% was selected by quantitative real-time PCR, which significantly lowered the expression of LRAP in HRMECs.

The recombinant adenovirus expressing shRNA effectively silencing LRAP gene was constructed successfully, which would facilitate further study of the role that LRAP plays in the development of diabetic retinopathy.