Intramuscular delivery of a single chain antibody gene prevents brain Aβ deposition and cognitive impairment in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease

Yan Jiang Wang, Chang Gao, Miao Yang, Xiao-Hong Liu, Annie Sun, Anthony Pollard, X Dong, Xiao-Bing Wu, Jin Hua Zhong, Hua-Dong Zhou, Xin-Fu Zhou

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    42 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Anti-beta-amyloid (Aβ) immunotherapy is effective in removing brain Aβ, but has shown to be associated with detrimental effects. We have demonstrated that Adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated delivery of an anti-Aβ single chain antibody (scFv) gene was effective in clearing brain Aβ without eliciting any inflammatory side effects in old APPSwe/PS1dE9 transgenic mice. In the present study, we tested the efficacy and safety of intramuscular delivery of the scFv gene in preventing brain Aβ deposition. The scFv gene was intramuscularly delivered to APPSwe/PS1dE9 transgenic mice at 3months of age, prior to Aβ deposition in the brain. Six months later, we found that the transgenes were expressed in a stable form at the delivered sites, with a small amount of ectopic expression in the liver and olfactory bulb. Brain Aβ plaque formation, Aβ accumulation, AD-type pathologies and cognitive impairment were significantly attenuated in scFv-treated APPSwe/PS1dE9 transgenic mice relative to EGFP-treated mice. Intramuscular delivery of scFv gene was well tolerated by the animals, did not cause inflammation or microhemorrhage at the gene expression site and in the brain, and did not induce neutralizing antibodies in the animals. These findings suggest that peripheral application of scFv is effective and safe in preventing the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and would be a promising non-inflammatory immunological modality for prevention and treatment of AD.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1281-1293
    Number of pages13
    JournalBrain, Behavior, and Immunity
    Volume24
    Issue number8
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Nov 2010

    Keywords

    • Adeno-associated virus
    • Alzheimer's disease
    • Amyloid-beta
    • Gene therapy
    • Immunotherapy
    • Inflammation
    • Microhemorrhage
    • Single chain antibody

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