Treatment of adult MPSI mouse brains with IDUA-expressing mesenchymal stem cells decreases GAG deposition and improves exploratory behavior.

Background: Mucopolysaccharidosis type I (MPSI) is caused by a deficiency in alpha-L iduronidase (IDUA), which leads to lysosomal accumulation of the glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) dermatan and heparan sulfate. While the currently available therapies have good systemic effects, they only minimally affect the neurodegenerative process. Based on the neuroprotective and tissue regenerative properties of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), we hypothesized that the administration of MSCs transduced with a murine leukemia virus (MLV) vector expressing IDUA to IDUA KO mouse brains could reduce GAG deposition in the brain and, as a result, improve neurofunctionality, as measured by exploratory activity.

Treatment of mouse limb ischemia with an integrative hypoxia-responsive vector expressing the vascular endothelial growth factor gene.

Constitutive vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene expression systems have been extensively used to treat peripheral arterial diseases, but most of the results have not been satisfactory. In this study, we designed a plasmid vector with a hypoxia-responsive element sequence incorporated into it with the phiC31 integrative system (pVHAVI) to allow long-term VEGF gene expression and to be activated under hypoxia. Repeated activations of VEGF gene expression under hypoxia were confirmed in HEK293 and C2C12 cells transfected with pVHAVI.