DNA-Mediated Gene Therapy in a Mouse Model of Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy 2B

Figures

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  Figure 1. Plasmids and DNA Injection (A) Map of plasmid pKLD-CAG-DYSF-CPL (pDYSF) expressing human dysferlin. (B) Map of plasmid pKLD-CAG-DYSF-CFL (pDYSF-FST) expressing human dysferlin and follistatin. (C) Schematic diagram illustrating blood vessels and muscles involved in vascular muscle perfusion method. (D) Luciferase live imaging photo of BLAJ/NRG mouse legs 4 weeks after injection with pDYSF (left) and HBSS (right), shown with a bioluminescence intensity gradient.

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  Figure 2. Comparison of Single and Double Vascular Injections of pDSYF in BlAJ/NRG Mice in a 4-Week Experiment (A) Timeline of the experiment; all mice received a first injection of plasmid pDYSF at day 0, whereas half of the mice also received a second injection of pDYSF at day 14. Luciferase live imaging was performed 2 and 28 days after injections. All mice were harvested at day 28. (B) Representative luciferase live images of mice 28 days after single (left) or double (right) doses of pDYSF. (C) Bioluminescence radiance values were graphed for control (HBSS alone) and single and double doses of pDYSF. Although double dose values trended higher, the difference in levels observed between the single and double dose groups was not statistically significant. (D) Western blot images of protein extracted from the four hind limb muscle groups from two representative legs after injection with either HBSS or a double dose of pDYSF. NRG represents the wild-type level of dysferlin, whereas NRG/BlAJ represents the null level of dysferlin in BlAJ/NRG mice. (E) Western blot band quantification of all the data showed an upward trend in dysferfin expression in the double dose groups that was not…

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  Figure 3. Vascular Injection of pDYSF or pDYSF-FST in BlAJ/NRG Mice in a 12-Week Experiment (A) Timeline of the experiment; all mouse legs received a single vascular injection of either HBSS alone, pDYSF, or pDYSF-FST at day 0, and hind limb muscles were collected at 12 weeks. Luciferase live imaging was performed at 2 days, 6 weeks, and 12 weeks after injection. (B) Representative luciferase images of the same mouse at 2 days, 6 weeks, and 12 weeks after injection with pDYSF-FST. (C) Similar levels of bioluminescence were observed in mice injected with pDSYF and pDYSF-FST. These levels were persistent over the time course of the experiment. (D) Representative western blot images of three mouse legs injected with pDYSF-FST; the H, Q, and G muscle groups were analyzed. NRG represents the wild-type level of dysferlin, whereas NRG/BlAJ represents the null level of dysferlin in BlAJ/NRG mice. Lane L is the protein size ladder. (E) Western blot band quantification showed no significant difference in dysferfin expression between the two plasmids FST. The dotted line represents 100% of wild-type levels of dysferlin present in NRG mice. Q, quadriceps; H, hamstring; G, gastrocnemius. Data are mean…

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  Figure 4. Further Analysis of 12-Week Gene Therapy Experiment in BlAJ/NRG Mice (A) Immunohistochemistry staining on G, H, and Q muscle sections harvested 12 weeks after vascular injection of HBSS alone, pDYSF, or pDYSF-FST. Laminin is stained red, and dysferlin is stained green. A section from the positive control NRG mouse is also shown. Bar, 50 μm. (B) Presence of plasmid DNA was detected by PCR in muscles injected with HBSS alone, pDYSF, or pDYSF-FST. Left diagram shows the position of the primers used to detect an identical 1,242-bp region of DNA present on pDYSF and pDYSF-FST. Representative PCR lanes show DNA extracted from Q, H, and G muscles from legs treated with either HBSS alone or pDYSF-FST. Control lanes are B = BlAJ/NRG, NRG; B+D = BlAJ/NRG + pDYSF; and B+F = BlAJ/NRG + pDYSF-FST. (C) Follistatin concentration was quantified by ELISA from muscles injected with HBSS, pDYSF, or pDYSF-FST. Legs injected with pDYSF-FST expressed significantly more follistatin than legs injected with HBSS alone or pDYSF (pooled for statistical purposes) 28 days after the injections. (D) Concentration of Evan’s blue dye was significantly lower in hamstring muscles of legs injected with pDYSF-FST…