Relationship between radiations and expression efficiency of recombinant adeno-associated virus vector

Abstract:

Recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vector, one of the most promising vectors, has been widely used in clinical trials for gene therapy. However, the contradiction between the effectiveness of gene delivery and the immunogenicity of viral capsid protein restricts the development of gene drugs designed based on this vector. Thus, improving the transduction efficiency is one of the most important research fields for rAAV vector. Recent results showed that radiations, such as UV light and γ-ray, can significantly improve the gene expression efficiency of rAAV vector in various types of cells and tissues. These effects vary across the radiation types and doses, the cell types and statuses, the time and infection index of vectors. It is proposed that DNA damage responses (especially for double strand break repair) induced by radiations might contribute to improve transgene expression of rAAV vector. A better understanding of the relationship between radiations and rAAV gene expression will facilitate the combination use of these two strategies in disease therapy. This review discussed the mechanism of UV and γ-ray radiation to improve the expression efficiency of rAAV, the influencing factors as well as the application and progress of it in the field of gene therapy.