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High ionic strength vector formulations enhance gene transfer to airway epithelia
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

High ionic strength vector formulations enhance gene transfer to airway epithelia

Ashley L Cooney, Laura Marquez Loza, Kenan Najdawi, Christian M Brommel, Paul B McCray and Patrick L Sinn
Nucleic acids research, Vol.52(16), pp.9369-9383
09/09/2024
DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkae640
PMCID: PMC11381324
PMID: 39077931
url
https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkae640View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Abstract A fundamental challenge for cystic fibrosis (CF) gene therapy is ensuring sufficient transduction of airway epithelia to achieve therapeutic correction. Hypertonic saline (HTS) is frequently administered to people with CF to enhance mucus clearance. HTS transiently disrupts epithelial cell tight junctions, but its ability to improve gene transfer has not been investigated. Here, we asked if increasing the concentration of NaCl enhances the transduction efficiency of three gene therapy vectors: adenovirus, AAV, and lentiviral vectors. Vectors formulated with 3–7% NaCl exhibited markedly increased transduction for all three platforms, leading to anion channel correction in primary cultures of human CF epithelial cells and enhanced gene transfer in mouse and pig airways in vivo. The mechanism of transduction enhancement involved tonicity but not osmolarity or pH. Formulating vectors with a high ionic strength solution is a simple strategy to greatly enhance efficacy and immediately improve preclinical or clinical applications.

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