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A new adenovector system for implementing thymulin gene therapy for inflammatory disorders. Mol Immunol 2017; 87:180-187. [PMID: 28501652 DOI: 10.1016/j.molimm.2017.04.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2017] [Revised: 04/18/2017] [Accepted: 04/22/2017] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Thymulin is a thymic peptide possessing anti-inflammatory effects. In order to manipulate thymulin expression in gene therapy studies, we built a bidirectional regulatable two-vector Tet-Off system and the corresponding control system. The experimental two-vector system, ETV, consists of a recombinant adenovector (RAd) harboring an expression cassette centered on a Tet-Off bidirectional promoter flanked by a synthetic gene for thymulin and the gene for humanized Green Fluorescent Protein (hGFP). The second adenovector of this system, RAd-tTA, constitutively expresses the regulatory protein tTA. When cells are co-transduced by the two adenovector components, tTA activates the bidirectional promoter and both transgenes are expressed. In the presence of the antibiotic doxycycline (DOX) transgene expression is deactivated. The control two-vector system, termed CTV, is similar to ETV but only expresses hGFP. In CHO-K1, BHK, and C2C12 cells, ETV and CTV induced a dose-dependent hGFP expression. In CHO-K1 cells, transgene expression was almost completely inhibited by DOX (1mg/ml). After intracerebroventricular injection of ETV in rats, thymulin levels increased significantly in the cerebrospinal fluid and there was high hGFP expression in the ependymal cell layer. When injected intramuscularly the ETV system induced a progressive increase in serum thymulin levels, which were inhibited when DOX was added to the drinking water. We conclude that our regulatable two-adenovector system is an effective molecular tool for implementing short and long-term anti-inflammatory thymulin gene therapy in animal models of acute or chronic inflammation.
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Reggiani PC, Poch B, Cónsole GM, Rimoldi OJ, Schwerdt JI, Tüngler V, Garcia-Bravo MM, Dardenne M, Goya RG. Thymulin-based gene therapy and pituitary function in animal models of aging. Neuroimmunomodulation 2011; 18:350-6. [PMID: 21952687 PMCID: PMC3221262 DOI: 10.1159/000329495] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Thymulin is a thymic hormone exclusively produced by the thymic epithelial cells. After its discovery and initial characterization in the 1970s, it was demonstrated that thymulin production and secretion is strongly influenced by the neuroendocrine system. Conversely, a growing core of information, to be reviewed here, points to thymulin as a hypophysiotropic peptide. Additionally, thymulin was shown to possess anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties in the brain. In recent years, a synthetic DNA sequence coding for a biologically active analog of thymulin, metFTS, was constructed and cloned in different adenoviral vectors. These include bidirectional regulatable Tet-Off vector systems that simultaneously express metFTS and green fluorescent protein and that can be downregulated reversibly by the addition of the antibiotic doxycycline. A number of recent studies suggest that thymulin gene therapy may be a suitable therapeutic strategy to prevent some of the endocrine and reproductive alterations that typically appear in congenitally athymic (nude) mice, taken as a suitable model of neuroendocrine and reproductive aging. The present article briefly reviews the literature on the physiology of the thymulin-pituitary axis as well as on the new molecular tools available to exploit the therapeutic potential of thymulin.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paula C. Reggiani
- Institute for Biochemical Research, National University of La Plata (UNLP), La Plata, Argentina
- Histology B-CICPBA, Faculty of Medicine, National University of La Plata (UNLP), La Plata, Argentina
| | - Brenda Poch
- Institute for Biochemical Research, National University of La Plata (UNLP), La Plata, Argentina
- Histology B-CICPBA, Faculty of Medicine, National University of La Plata (UNLP), La Plata, Argentina
| | - Gloria M. Cónsole
- Histology B-CICPBA, Faculty of Medicine, National University of La Plata (UNLP), La Plata, Argentina
| | - Omar J. Rimoldi
- Institute for Biochemical Research, National University of La Plata (UNLP), La Plata, Argentina
| | - Jose I. Schwerdt
- Institute for Biochemical Research, National University of La Plata (UNLP), La Plata, Argentina
- Histology B-CICPBA, Faculty of Medicine, National University of La Plata (UNLP), La Plata, Argentina
| | - Victoria Tüngler
- Histology B-CICPBA, Faculty of Medicine, National University of La Plata (UNLP), La Plata, Argentina
- Institut für Pharmakologie und Toxikologie, Charité-Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Mireille Dardenne
- CNRS UMR 8147, Université Paris Descartes, Hôpital Necker, Paris, France
| | - Rodolfo G. Goya
- Institute for Biochemical Research, National University of La Plata (UNLP), La Plata, Argentina
- Histology B-CICPBA, Faculty of Medicine, National University of La Plata (UNLP), La Plata, Argentina
- *Rodolfo G. Goya, INIBIOLP, Faculty of Medicine, UNLP, CC 455, La Plata 1900 (Argentina), Tel. +54 221 425 6735, E-Mail
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Santos M, Henriques-Coelho T, Leite-Moreira A. Immunomodulatory role of thymulin in lung diseases. Expert Opin Ther Targets 2010; 14:131-41. [DOI: 10.1517/14728220903512991] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
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Rodriguez SS, Castro MG, Brown OA, Goya RG, Console GM. GENE THERAPY FOR THE TREATMENT OF PITUITARY TUMORS. Expert Rev Endocrinol Metab 2009; 4:359-370. [PMID: 20186255 PMCID: PMC2825701 DOI: 10.1586/eem.09.16] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Pituitary adenomas constitute the most frequent neuroendocrine pathology in humans. Current therapies include surgery, radiotherapy and pharmacological approaches. Although useful, none of them offers a permanent cure. Current research efforts to implement gene therapy in pituitary tumors include the treatment of experimental adenomas with adenoviral vector-mediated transfer of the suicide gene for thymidine kinase, which converts the prodrug ganciclovir into a toxic metabolite. In some cases, the suicide transgene has been placed under the control of pituitary cell-type specific promoters. Also, regulatable adenoviral vector systems are being assessed in gene therapy approaches for experimental pituitary tumors. Although the efficiency and safety of current viral vectors must be optimized before clinical use, they remain as highly promising therapeutic tools.
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Affiliation(s)
- Silvia S. Rodriguez
- Histology and Embryology B-CICPBA
- INIBIOLP-CONICET, Faculty of Medicine, University of La Plata
| | - Maria G. Castro
- Gene Therapeutics Research Institute, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
| | - Oscar A. Brown
- Histology and Embryology B-CICPBA
- INIBIOLP-CONICET, Faculty of Medicine, University of La Plata
| | - Rodolfo G. Goya
- Histology and Embryology B-CICPBA
- INIBIOLP-CONICET, Faculty of Medicine, University of La Plata
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Reggiani PC, Morel GR, Cónsole GM, Barbeito CG, Rodriguez SS, Brown OA, Bellini MJ, Pléau JM, Dardenne M, Goya RG. The thymus-neuroendocrine axis: physiology, molecular biology, and therapeutic potential of the thymic peptide thymulin. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2009; 1153:98-106. [PMID: 19236333 DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2008.03964.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Thymulin is a thymic hormone exclusively produced by the thymic epithelial cells. It consists of a nonapeptide component coupled to the ion zinc, which confers biological activity to the molecule. After its discovery in the early 1970s, thymulin was characterized as a thymic hormone involved in several aspects of intrathymic and extrathymic T cell differentiation. Subsequently, it was demonstrated that thymulin production and secretion is strongly influenced by the neuroendocrine system. Conversely, a growing core of information, to be reviewed here, points to thymulin as a hypophysotropic peptide. In recent years, interest has arisen in the potential use of thymulin as a therapeutic agent. Thymulin was shown to possess anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties in the brain. Furthermore, an adenoviral vector harboring a synthetic gene for thymulin, stereotaxically injected in the rat brain, achieved a much longer expression than the adenovirally mediated expression in the brain of other genes, thus suggesting that an anti-inflammatory activity of thymulin prevents the immune system from destroying virus-transduced brain cells. Other studies suggest that thymulin gene therapy may also be a suitable therapeutic strategy to prevent some of the endocrine and metabolic alterations that typically appear in thymus-deficient animal models. The present article briefly reviews the literature on the physiology, molecular biology, and therapeutic potential of thymulin.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paula C Reggiani
- Institute for Biochemical Research, Faculty of Medicine, CONICET, National University of La Plata, La Plata, Argentina.
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Goya RG, Reggiani PC, Vesenbeckh SM, Pléau JM, Sosa YE, Cónsole GM, Schade R, Henklein P, Dardenne M. Thymulin gene therapy prevents the reduction in circulating gonadotropins induced by thymulin deficiency in mice. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 2007; 293:E182-7. [PMID: 17389714 PMCID: PMC2656608 DOI: 10.1152/ajpendo.00085.2007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Integrity of the thymus during perinatal life is necessary for a proper maturation of the pituitary-gonadal axis in mice and other mammalian species. Thus congenitally athymic (nude) female mice show significantly reduced levels of circulating gonadotropins, a fact that seems to be causally related to a number of reproductive derangements described in these mutants. Interestingly, a number of in vitro studies suggest that the thymic peptide thymulin may be involved in thymus-pituitary communication. To determine the consequences of low serum thymulin in otherwise normal animals, we induced short (8 days)- and long (33 days)-term thymulin deficiency in C57BL/6 mice by neonatally injecting (intraperitoneally) an anti-thymulin serum and assessed their circulating gonadotropin levels at puberty and thereafter. Control mice received an irrelevant antiserum. Gonadotropins were measured by radioimmunoassay and thymulin by bioassay. Both long- and short-term serum thymulin immunoneutralization resulted in a significant reduction in the serum levels of gonadotropins at 33 and 45 days of age. Subsequently, we injected (intramuscularly) an adenoviral vector harboring a synthetic DNA sequence (5'-ATGCAAGCCAAATCTCAAGGTGGATCCAACTAGTAG-3') encoding a biologically active analog of thymulin, methionine-FTS, in newborn nude mice (which are thymulin deficient) and measured circulating gonadotropin levels when the animals reached 52 days of age. It was observed that neonatal thymulin gene therapy in the athymic mice restored their serum thymulin levels and prevented the reduction in circulating gonadotropin levels that typically emerges in these mutants after puberty. Our results indicate that thymulin plays a relevant physiological role in the thymus-pituitary-gonadal axis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rodolfo G Goya
- Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquimicas de La Plata-Histology B-Comision de Investigaciones Cientificas de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Medicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina.
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