This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this link to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Add article to my folders Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Boettcher, C Articles by Priller, J Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Boettcher, C Articles by Priller, J

Long-term engraftment of systemically transplanted, gene-modified bone marrow-derived cells in the adult mouse retina

¹ Laboratory of Molecular Psychiatry, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
² Paul Flechsig Institute of Brain Research, Faculty of Medicine, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
³ Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, CNRS/INSERM/ULP, Illkirch, France
⁴ Institute of Anatomy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
⁵ Department of Ophthalmology and Eye Clinic, Faculty of Medicine, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
⁶ Ocular Neurodegeneration Research Group, Institute for Ophthalmic Research, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

Correspondence to:
Dr J Priller, Laboratory of Molecular Psychiatry, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Schumannstr. 20/21, 10117 Berlin, Germany; josef.priller{at}charite.de

Aims: To provide evidence for a novel route of gene administration to normal and diseased retinas, we performed systemic transplantation of genetically engineered bone marrow-derived cells (BMDCs) to wild-type mice and to mutant mice with retinal degeneration.

Methods: Lethally irradiated recipient mice—C57BL/6 (wild-type), SCA7 (spinocerebellar ataxia type 7) and FVB/N (rd1 mutant)—were transplanted intravenously with 5x10⁶ BMDCs, which were transduced with a retroviral vector to express the enhanced green fluorescent protein (GFP). Chimeras were killed at 1, 3, 8, 11, 12 and 15 months (wild-type) or at 8 and 12 months (mutants) after transplantation. Eyes were enucleated, and the retinas were analysed using immunohistochemistry.

Results: In wild-type retinas, BMDCs preferentially engrafted in the inner and outer plexiform layers, the ganglion cell layer and the optic nerve. No BMDCs were found in the photoreceptor layer. BMDCs were more common in the degenerating retinas of the mutant mice. The majority of BMDCs in the retina were identified as microglia based on morphology and immunophenotype. Approximately 8–16% of all CD11b⁺ cells in the retina expressed GFP. None of the BMDCs expressed neuronal cell markers. GFP-expressing BMDCs were found to persist for more than 1 year after transplantation.

Conclusions: We demonstrate that gene-modified BMDCs show long-term engraftment and stable expression of GFP from a retrovirus in both wild-type and mutant mouse retinas. Thus, BMDCs may be used as vehicles for gene delivery to the retina.

Funding: This work was supported by grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (to JP, AR and MWS) and the Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Klinische Forschung (IZKF) at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Leipzig (C35, Z10).

Ethics approval: All animal procedures were approved by the local authorities.