Viral-mediated gene transfer to mouse primary neural progenitor cells

Neural progenitor cells may provide for cell replacement or gene delivery vehicles in neurodegenerative disease therapies. The expression of therapeutic proteins by neural progenitors would be enhanced by viral-mediated gene transfer, but the effects of several common recombinant viruses on primary progenitor cell populations have not been tested. To address this issue, we cultured cells from embryonic day 16-18 mouse brain in serum-free medium containing epidermal growth factor or basic fibroblast growth factor, and investigated how transduction with recombinant viral vectors affected maintenance and differentiation properties of progenitor cells. Neurosphere cultures were incubated with feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), adeno-associated virus (AAV) or adenoviral (Ad) constructs expressing either p-galactosidase or enhanced green fluorescent protein at low multiplicity of infection. Nestin-positive neurospheres were regenerated after incubation of single progenitor cells with FIV, indicating that FIV-mediated gene transfer did not inhibit progenitor cell self-renewal. In contrast, adenovirus induced differentiation into glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-positive astrocytes. The AAV serotypes tested did not effectively transduce progenitor cells. FIV-transduced progenitors retained the potential for differentiation into neurons and glia in vitro, and when transplanted into the striatum of normal adult C57BL/6 mice differentiated into glia, or remained undifferentiated. In the presence of tumor cells, FIV-transduced progenitors migrated significantly from the injection site. Our results suggest that FIV-based vectors can transduce progenitor cell populations in vitro, with maintenance of their ability to differentiate into multiple cell types or to respond to injury within the central nervous system. These results hold promise for the use of genetically manipulated stem cells for CNS therapies.