Currently, 13 different human and nonhuman primate AAV serotypes (AAV1–AAV13) have been sequenced, and PCR studies of nonhuman primate and human tissues have identified many additional AAV genomes. AAV is divided into six genomic groups (clades A–F) and two clonal isolates (AAV4 and AAV5) based on antigenic reactivity and sequence comparison. Comparing AAV serotypes to each other, they share approximately 65–99% sequence identity and 95–99% structural identity (percentage of superposable Ca positions). These AAVs differ significantly in their tropism to various target tissues, including cardiac and skeletal muscle, liver and lung tissue, and central nervous system cells. These differences can be used in gene therapy to enable targeted treatments for specific tissues.
Using X-ray crystallography or cryo-electron microscopy and image reconstruction, the structures of AAV1–AAV9 have been determined. In all these structures, only the VP3 common region was observed, which may be due to the disorder of the VP1/VP2 common region and/or the low copy number of the VP1 unique region and the VP1/2 common region, which is consistent with the structure determination process used The icosahedral symmetries are incompatible. The AAV VP3 structure contains highly conserved regions common to all serotypes, the core eight-stranded b-barrel motif (βB-βI) and the small α-helix (αA). The loop region inserted between the β- strands consists of a unique HI loop between β-strands H and I, a DE loop between β-strands D and E, and nine variable regions (VR) that form the top of the loop. These VRs are located on the capsid surface and may be associated with specific functional roles in the AAV life cycle, including receptor binding, transduction, and antigen specificity. Therefore, these structural differences between serotypes can be exploited to engineer tropisms for specific tissues or cell types to treat specific diseases.
Among AAV serotypes, AAV serotype 9 (AAV9) stands out for its ability to effectively target multiple tissues and therefore has great potential for clinical applications. Here, researchers explore a novel purification strategy utilizing Dynabeads™ CaptureSelect™ magnetic beads. AAV9 magnetic beads capture AAV9 with high specificity and recovery rates between 70% and 90%, whereas AAVX magnetic beads do not bind to AAV9. By continuously interacting with AAV in solution, these magnetic beads enhance the clearance of genomic DNA and plasmids even in the absence of endonucleases. The beads can be regenerated at least eight times, and used beads can be stored for up to six months and reused without significant loss in recovery rates. The in vivo potency of AAV9-purified vectors was comparable to that of iodixanol-purified vectors.
To confirm the potency of magnetic affinity bead-purified AAV9, male C57BL/6JInv mice were injected with 5 × 1010 vg/mouse of magnetic affinity bead-purified AAV9-CAG-GFP and AAV9-CAG-Luc via the tail vein. The same dose of the corresponding iodixanol-purified AAV was also used as a positive control. At the endpoint, 9 weeks after AAV injection, livers were harvested and subjected to ex vivo green fluorescent protein (GFP) imaging (Figure 1A) and GFP signal quantification (Figure 1B). The results showed that AAV9-CAG-GFP purified using magnetic affinity beads was functional, and the quantified GFP signal was approximately 1.65-fold lower than that of iodixanol-purified AAV9-CAG-GFP. The gene copy number in the liver of mice injected with magnetic bead-purified AAV9-CAG-GFP was lower than that of iodixanol-purified AAV9-CAG-GFP (Figure 1C).
In addition, the researchers used non-invasive imaging to monitor luciferase signals in AAV-injected mice (Figure 1D). As shown in Figure 1E, luciferase signals were quantified from week 1 to week 9. Unlike the results of GFP imaging, the luciferase signals between magnetic bead-purified AAV9-CAG-Luc and iodixanol-purified AAV9-CAG-Luc showed more similar intensities in vivo. This was further confirmed by quantification of liver AAV genome copy number for AAV9-CAG-Luc vectors, which showed that magnetic affinity bead-purified AAV9-CAG-Luc and iodixanol-purified AAV9-CAG-Luc had similar average values (Figure 1F).
Figure 1. In vivo bioactivity of AAV9-purified by magnetic affinity beads compared to iodixanol-purified AAV9. (Sia K C, et al., 2024)
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On top of a fantastic product, the customer support team has been incredibly helpful and responsive. They assisted us promptly with any inquiries and provided valuable insights into optimizing our experiments with the AAV9-CAG-Luc.
United Kingdom
10/08/2022
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