Author:
Roche Catherine,Zamora Alfredo J,Taïeb David,Lavaque Esteban,Rasolonjanahary Ramahefarizo,Dufour Henri,Bagnis Claude,Enjalbert Alain,Barlier Anne
Abstract
Despite important advances in human therapeutics, no specific treatment for both non-functioning gonadotroph and resistant somatotroph adenomas is available. Gene transfer by viral vectors can be considered as a promising way to achieve a specific and efficient treatment. Here we show the possibility of efficient gene transfer in human pituitary adenoma cells in vitro using a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-type 1-derived vector. Using enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) gene as a marker placed under the phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) promoter, gonadotroph and somatotroph adenomas were transduced even with moderate viral loads. The expression started at day 2, reached a peak at day 5, and it was still present at day 90. For targeting somatotroph and gonadotroph adenomas, human growth hormone (GH) promoter (GH −481, +54 bp) and two fragments of the human glycoprotein hormone α-subunit promoter (α-subunit 1 −520, +33 bp, and α-subunit 2 −907, +33 bp) were tested. In gonadotroph adenomas, the percentage of identified fluorescent cells and the fluorescence intensity analyzed by fluorescence-activated cell sorting indicated that the strength of the α-subunit 1 and α-subunit 2 promoters were comparable to that of the PGK promoter. Primary cultures of rat pituitary cells showed that α-subunit 1 is more selective to thyreotroph and gonadotroph phenotypes than α-subunit 2. GH promoter activity appeared weak in somatotroph adenomas. The human GH enhancer did not increase the GH promoter activity at all but the human prolactin promoter (−250 bp) allowed 4-fold more fluorescent cells to be obtained than the GH promoter. Several cell lines appeared too permissive to test cell-specificity of pituitary promoters. However, on human non-pituitary cell cultures, the tested pituitary promoters seemed clearly selective to target endocrine pituitary phenotypes. This study gives a starting point for a gene-therapy program using lentiviral vectors to transfer therapeutic genes in human pituitary adenomas.
Subject
Endocrinology,Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
Cited by
11 articles.
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