GM1 gangliosidosis is a lysosomal storage disorder caused by a deficiency in the catabolizing enzyme β-galactosidase (βgal). This leads to accumulation of GM1-ganglioside (GM1) in the lysosome inducing ER stress and cell death. GM1 gangliosidosis is primarily a disorder of the central nervous system (CNS) with peripheral organ involvement. In this work we report two major findings, 1) systemic treatment of GM1 gangliosidosis with an adenoassociated virus (AAV9) encoding mouse-βgal (mβgal) in a GM1 gangliosidosis mouse model (βGal-/-), and 2) an investigation into an intracranial injection of a therapeutic AAVrh8 encoding mβgal. Systemic treatment of GM1 gangliosidosis with AAV9 resulted in a moderate expression of enzyme in the CNS, reduction of GM1 storage, significant retention of motor function and a significant increase in lifespan. Interestingly, the therapeutic effect was more robust in females. Intracranial injections of AAVrh8 vector expressing high levels of βgal resulted in enzyme spread throughout the brain, significant retention of motor function and a significant increase in lifespan. Histological alterations were also found at the injection site in both βGal-/- and normal animals. We constructed a series of vectors with a range of decreasing enzyme expression levels to investigate the cause for the unanticipated result. Microarrays were performed on the injection site and we showed that a lower expressing AAVrh8-mβgal vector mitigated the negative response. Intracranial injection of this newly developed vector was shown to clear lysosomal storage throughout the CNS of βGal-/- mice. Taken together, these studies indicate that a combined systemic and fine-tuned intracranial approach may be the most effective in clearing lysosomal storage completely in the CNS while providing therapeutic benefit to the periphery.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:umassmed.edu/oai:escholarship.umassmed.edu:gsbs_diss-1769 |
| Date | 05 August 2014 |
| Creators | Weismann, Cara M. |
| Publisher | eScholarship@UMassChan |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts Medical School |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Dissertations and Theses |
| Rights | Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved. |
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