MicroRNA silencing improves the tumor specificity of adenoviral transgene expression.
Abstract
Adenoviral technology has been thoroughly evaluated for delivering genetic material to tumor tissue and the surrounding microenvironment. Almost any gene can be cloned into an adenovirus (Ad) vector, which when combined with strong, constitutively active promoters permit up to a million-fold amplification of the transgene in a single adenoviral particle, thus facilitating their use in cancer therapy and imaging. However, widespread infection of the liver and other non-targeted tissues by Ad vectors is a substantial problem that often results in significant liver inflammation and hepatotoxicity at doses required to achieve efficient tumor transduction. miR-122 is a highly expressed liver-specific microRNA (miRNA) that provides a unique opportunity for downregulating adenoviral transgene expression in liver tissue. The binding of endogenous miRNAs to complementary miRNA-targeting elements (miRTs) incorporated into the 3' untranslated region of adenoviral transgenes interferes with message stability and/or protein translation, and miRT elements against miR-122 (miRT-122) can selectively reduce adenoviral transgene expression in the liver. Previous studies using miR-122-based regulation, with and without other types of transcriptio...Continue Reading
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Innate immune mechanisms dominate elimination of adenoviral vectors following in vivo administration
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