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Abstract
The use of antibodies as a treatment for disease has it origins in experiments performed in the 1890s, and since these initial experiments, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have become one of the fastest growing therapeutic classes for the treatment of cancer, autoimmune disease, and infectious diseases. However, treatment with therapeutic mAbs often requires high doses given via long infusions or multiple injections, which, coupled with the prohibitively high cost associated with the production of clinical-grade proteins and the transient serum half-lives that necessitate multiple administrations to gain therapeutic benefits, makes large-scale treatment of patients, especially patients in the developing world, difficult. Due to their low-cost and rapid scalability, nucleic acid-based approaches to deliver antibody gene sequences for in situ mAb production have gained substantial traction. In this review, we discuss new approaches to produce therapeutic mAbs in situ to overcome the need for the passive infusion of purified protein.
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Affiliation(s)
- Todd J Suscovich
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
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Lei P, Ogunade A, Kirkwood KL, Laychock SG, Andreadis ST. Efficient Production of Bioactive Insulin from Human Epidermal Keratinocytes and Tissue-Engineered Skin Substitutes: Implications for Treatment of Diabetes. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2007; 13:2119-31. [PMID: 17518716 DOI: 10.1089/ten.2006.0210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Despite many years of research, daily insulin injections remain the gold standard for diabetes treatment. Gene therapy may provide an alternative strategy by imparting the ability to secrete insulin from an ectopic site. The epidermis is a self-renewing tissue that is easily accessible and can provide large numbers of autologous cells to generate insulin-secreting skin substitutes. Here we used a recombinant retrovirus to modify human epidermal keratinocytes with a gene encoding for human proinsulin containing the furin recognition sequences at the A-C and B-C junctions. Keratinocytes were able to process proinsulin and secrete active insulin that promoted glucose uptake. Primary epidermal cells produced higher amounts of insulin than cell lines, suggesting that insulin secretion may depend on the physiological state of the producer cells. Modified cells maintained the ability to stratify into 3-dimensional skin equivalents that expressed insulin at the basal and suprabasal layers. Modifications at the furin recognition sites did not improve proinsulin processing, but a single amino acid substitution in the proinsulin B chain enhanced C-peptide secretion from cultured cells and bioengineered skin substitutes 10- and 28-fold, respectively. These results suggest that gene-modified bioengineered skin may provide an alternative means of insulin delivery for treatment of diabetes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pedro Lei
- Bioengineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Amherst, New York 14260, USA
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3
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Abstract
Possibilities of using the skin for somatic gene therapy have been investigated for more than 20 years. Strategies have included both direct gene transfer into the skin and indirect gene transfer utilizing cultured cells as an intermediate step for gene manipulation. Viral as well as nonviral vectors have been used, and both gene addition and gene editing have been performed. Although cutaneous gene therapy has now begun translating into clinical medicine (as seen by the first clinical gene therapy project of an inherited skin disorder) further developments are still required.
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Andreadis ST. Gene-modified tissue-engineered skin: the next generation of skin substitutes. ADVANCES IN BIOCHEMICAL ENGINEERING/BIOTECHNOLOGY 2006; 103:241-74. [PMID: 17195466 DOI: 10.1007/10_023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Tissue engineering combines the principles of cell biology, engineering and materials science to develop three-dimensional tissues to replace or restore tissue function. Tissue engineered skin is one of most advanced tissue constructs, yet it lacks several important functions including those provided by hair follicles, sebaceous glands, sweat glands and dendritic cells. Although the complexity of skin may be difficult to recapitulate entirely, new or improved functions can be provided by genetic modification of the cells that make up the tissues. Gene therapy can also be used in wound healing to promote tissue regeneration or prevent healing abnormalities such as formation of scars and keloids. Finally, gene-enhanced skin substitutes have great potential as cell-based devices to deliver therapeutics locally or systemically. Although significant progress has been made in the development of gene transfer technologies, several challenges have to be met before clinical application of genetically modified skin tissue. Engineering challenges include methods for improved efficiency and targeted gene delivery; efficient gene transfer to the stem cells that constantly regenerate the dynamic epidermal tissue; and development of novel biomaterials for controlled gene delivery. In addition, advances in regulatable vectors to achieve spatially and temporally controlled gene expression by physiological or exogenous signals may facilitate pharmacological administration of therapeutics through genetically engineered skin. Gene modified skin substitutes are also employed as biological models to understand tissue development or disease progression in a realistic three-dimensional context. In summary, gene therapy has the potential to generate the next generation of skin substitutes with enhanced capacity for treatment of burns, chronic wounds and even systemic diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stelios T Andreadis
- Bioengineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York (SUNY), Amherst, NY 14260, USA.
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5
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Abstract
The skin is an attractive target for gene therapy because it is easily accessible and shows great potential as an ectopic site for protein delivery in vivo. Genetically modified epidermal cells can be used to engineer three-dimensional skin substitutes, which when transplanted can act as in vivo 'bioreactors' for delivery of therapeutic proteins locally or systemically. Although some gene transfer technologies have the potential to afford permanent genetic modification, differentiation and eventual loss of genetically modified cells from the epidermis results in temporary transgene expression. Therefore, to achieve stable long-term gene expression, it is critical to deliver genes to epidermal stem cells, which possess unlimited growth potential and self-renewal capacity. This review discusses the recent advances in epidermal stem cell isolation, gene transfer and engineering of skin substitutes. Recent efforts that employ gene therapy and tissue engineering for the treatment of genetic diseases, chronic wounds and systemic disorders, such as leptin deficiency or diabetes, are reviewed. Finally, the use of gene-modified tissue-engineered skin as a biological model for understanding tissue development, wound healing and epithelial carcinogenesis is also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stelios T Andreadis
- University at Buffalo, Bioengineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, State University of New York, Amherst, NY 14260, USA.
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Perez N, Bigey P, Scherman D, Danos O, Piechaczyk M, Pelegrin M. Regulatable systemic production of monoclonal antibodies by in vivo muscle electroporation. GENETIC VACCINES AND THERAPY 2004; 2:2. [PMID: 15038826 PMCID: PMC394348 DOI: 10.1186/1479-0556-2-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2003] [Accepted: 03/23/2004] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
The clinical application of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) potentially concerns a wide range of diseases including, among others, viral infections, cancer and autoimmune diseases. Although intravenous infusion appears to be the simplest and most obvious mode of administration, it is very often not applicable to long-term treatments because of the restrictive cost of mAbs certified for human use and the side effects associated with injection of massive doses of antibodies. Gene/cell therapies designed for sustained and, possibly, regulatable in vivo production and systemic delivery of mAbs might permit to advantageously replace it. We have already shown that several such approaches allow month- to year-long ectopic antibody production by non-B cells in living organisms. Those include grafting of ex vivo genetically modified cells of various types, in vivo adenoviral gene transfer and implantation of encapsulated antibody-producing cells. Because intramuscular electrotransfer of naked DNA has already been used for in vivo production of a variety of proteins, we have wanted to test whether it could be adapted to that of ectopic mAbs as well. We report here that this is actually the case since both long-term and regulatable production of an ectopic mAb could be obtained in the mouse taken as a model animal. Although serum antibody concentrations obtained were relatively low, these data are encouraging in the perspective of future therapeutical applications of this technology in mAb-based immunotherapies, especially in developing countries where cost-effective and easily implementable technologies would be required for large-scale applications in the context of severe chronic viral diseases such as HIV and HCV infections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Norma Perez
- Généthon & UMR 8115 CNRS, 91002 Evry, France
| | - Pascal Bigey
- Unité de Pharmacologie Chimique et Génétique, FRE CNRS 2463 - INSERM U640, Faculté de Pharmacie, Université René Descartes, 75270 PARIS, France
| | - Daniel Scherman
- Unité de Pharmacologie Chimique et Génétique, FRE CNRS 2463 - INSERM U640, Faculté de Pharmacie, Université René Descartes, 75270 PARIS, France
| | | | - Marc Piechaczyk
- Institute of Molecular Genetics of Montpellier, UMR 5535 / IFR122 CNRS, 34293 Montpellier, France
| | - Mireia Pelegrin
- Institute of Molecular Genetics of Montpellier, UMR 5535 / IFR122 CNRS, 34293 Montpellier, France
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Tjelle TE, Corthay A, Lunde E, Sandlie I, Michaelsen TE, Mathiesen I, Bogen B. Monoclonal Antibodies Produced by Muscle after Plasmid Injection and Electroporation. Mol Ther 2004; 9:328-36. [PMID: 15006599 DOI: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2003.12.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2003] [Accepted: 12/16/2003] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Antibodies are useful for the treatment of a variety of diseases. We here demonstrate that mouse muscle produced monoclonal antibodies (mAb) after a single injection of immunoglobulin genes as plasmid DNA. In vivo electroporation of muscle greatly enhanced antibody production. For chimeric antibodies, levels of 50-200 ng mAb/ml serum were obtained but levels declined after 7-14 days due to an immune response against the xenogeneic parts of the antibody. By contrast, fully mouse antibodies persisted in serum for at least 7 months. mAb produced by the muscle had correct structure, specificity, and biological effector functions. The findings were extended to a larger animal, the sheep, in which mAb serum levels of 30-50 ng/ml were obtained. Sustained levels of serum mAb, induced by single injection of Ig genes and electroporation of muscle cells, may offer significant advantages in the treatment of human diseases.
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Dreja H, Gros L, Villard S, Bachrach E, Oates A, Granier C, Chardes T, Mani JC, Piechaczyk M, Pelegrin M. Monoclonal antibody 667 recognizes the variable region A motif of the ecotropic retrovirus CasBrE envelope glycoprotein and inhibits Env binding to the viral receptor. J Virol 2003; 77:10984-93. [PMID: 14512547 PMCID: PMC224958 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.77.20.10984-10993.2003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Monoclonal antibody (MAb) 667 is a neutralizing mouse monoclonal antibody recognizing the envelope glycoprotein (Env) of the ecotropic neurotropic murine retrovirus CasBrE but not that of other murine retroviruses. Since 667 can be used for preclinical studies of antiviral gene therapy as well as for studying the early events of retroviral infection, we have cloned its cDNAs and molecularly characterized it in detail. Spot technique-based experiments showed that 667 recognizes a linear epitope of 12 amino acids located in the variable region A of the receptor binding domain. Alanine scanning experiments showed that six amino acids within the epitope are critical for MAb binding. One of them, D(57), is not present in any other murine retroviral Env, which suggests a critical role for this residue in the selectivity of 667. MAb 667 heavy- and light-chain cDNAs were functionally characterized by transient transfection into Cos-7 cells. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and Biacore studies showed that the specificities as well as the antigen-binding thermodynamic and kinetic properties of the recombinant 667 MAb (r667) produced by Cos-7 cells and those of the parental hybridoma-produced MAb (h667) were similar. However, h667 was shown to contain contaminating retroviral and/or retrovirus-like particles which interfere with both viral binding and neutralization experiments. These contaminants could successfully be removed by a stringent purification protocol. Importantly, this purified 667 could completely prevent retrovirus binding to target cells and was as efficient as the r667 MAb produced by transfected Cos-7 cells in neutralization assays. In conclusion, this study shows that the primary mechanism of virus neutralization by MAb 667 is the blocking of the retroviral receptor binding domain of CasBrE Env. In addition, the findings of this study constitute a warning against the direct use of hybridoma cell culture supernatants for studying the initial events of retroviral cell infection as well as for carrying out in vivo neutralization experiments and suggest that either recombinant antibodies or highly purified antibodies are preferable for these purposes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanna Dreja
- Institut de Génétique Moléculaire de Montpellier, CNRS UMR 5535, IFR 122, 34293 Montpellier Cédex 5, France
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Noël D, Pelegrin M, Kramer S, Jacquet C, Skander N, Piechaczyk M. High in vivo production of a model monoclonal antibody on adenoviral gene transfer. Hum Gene Ther 2002; 13:1483-93. [PMID: 12215269 DOI: 10.1089/10430340260185111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The therapeutic potential of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) for treating a variety of severe or life-threatening diseases is high. Although intravenous infusion appears to be the simplest and most obvious mode of administration, it is not applicable in many long-term treatments. It might, however, be advantageously replaced by gene/cell therapies, rendering treatments cost-effective and eliminating the short- and long-term side effects associated with injection of massive doses of antibodies. Grafting of ex vivo genetically modified cells of various types has already been used for in vivo production and systemic delivery of MAbs in mice. However, although sustained for long periods of time, serum levels of ectopic MAbs were low. We show here that in vivo administration to mice of a first-generation adenoviral vector expressing a model MAb also permits achievement of the same goal, but with 100 to 200 times better efficiency that in any other case of gene transfer described thus far. We also investigated for possible anti-idiotypic response against the ectopic MAb. None was detected in the animals expressing the lowest levels of ectopic MAb production; a response was detected among the highest producers. In the latter case, however, the response was low and could not exert any significant neutralizing activity. In conclusion, our work indicates that high levels of circulating ectopic MAb can be obtained on direct in vivo gene transfer without inducing an anti-idiotypic response sufficiently robust to exert a neutralizing effect. This observation is encouraging in the perspective of clinical applications of this technology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danièle Noël
- Immunopathologie des Maladies Autoimmunes et Tumorales, INSERM U475, 34197 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
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