Gender difference in pre-clinical liver-directed gene therapy with lentiviral vectors

Viral vector-based therapies are effective therapeutics for the correction of several disorders, both in mouse models and in humans. Several pre-clinical studies have demonstrated differences in transduction efficiencies and therapeutic effect between male and female mice dosed with AAV-based gene t...

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Main Authors: Efrain Guzman, Cheen Khoo, Deirdre O’Connor, Gayathri Devarajan, Sharifah Iqball, Bernard Souberbielle, Kyriacos Mitrophanous, Yatish Lad
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-04-01
Series:Experimental Biology and Medicine
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Online Access:https://www.ebm-journal.org/articles/10.3389/ebm.2025.10422/full
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author Efrain Guzman
Cheen Khoo
Deirdre O’Connor
Gayathri Devarajan
Sharifah Iqball
Bernard Souberbielle
Kyriacos Mitrophanous
Yatish Lad
author_facet Efrain Guzman
Cheen Khoo
Deirdre O’Connor
Gayathri Devarajan
Sharifah Iqball
Bernard Souberbielle
Kyriacos Mitrophanous
Yatish Lad
author_sort Efrain Guzman
collection DOAJ
description Viral vector-based therapies are effective therapeutics for the correction of several disorders, both in mouse models and in humans. Several pre-clinical studies have demonstrated differences in transduction efficiencies and therapeutic effect between male and female mice dosed with AAV-based gene therapy product candidates. Here, we report gender-specific transduction and transgene expression differences in mice dosed systemically with lentiviral vectors (LVV). Male mice systemically dosed with LVV carrying the reporter gene luciferase showed at least a 12-fold higher expression of luciferase and a higher vector copy number (VCN) in their livers compared with female mice. Lastly, PAHEnu2 male mice dosed with a LVV carrying the human phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) transgene were observed to have a higher VCN than their female littermates. These findings suggest that sex-based differences initially observed in AAV-mediated therapies also apply to LVV, but the exact mechanism remains to be determined.
format Article
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issn 1535-3699
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publishDate 2025-04-01
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format Article
series Experimental Biology and Medicine
spelling doaj-art-06f02adc8d9b40fbbf494edc0aacc65b2025-08-20T02:24:43ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Experimental Biology and Medicine1535-36992025-04-0125010.3389/ebm.2025.1042210422Gender difference in pre-clinical liver-directed gene therapy with lentiviral vectorsEfrain GuzmanCheen KhooDeirdre O’ConnorGayathri DevarajanSharifah IqballBernard SouberbielleKyriacos MitrophanousYatish LadViral vector-based therapies are effective therapeutics for the correction of several disorders, both in mouse models and in humans. Several pre-clinical studies have demonstrated differences in transduction efficiencies and therapeutic effect between male and female mice dosed with AAV-based gene therapy product candidates. Here, we report gender-specific transduction and transgene expression differences in mice dosed systemically with lentiviral vectors (LVV). Male mice systemically dosed with LVV carrying the reporter gene luciferase showed at least a 12-fold higher expression of luciferase and a higher vector copy number (VCN) in their livers compared with female mice. Lastly, PAHEnu2 male mice dosed with a LVV carrying the human phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) transgene were observed to have a higher VCN than their female littermates. These findings suggest that sex-based differences initially observed in AAV-mediated therapies also apply to LVV, but the exact mechanism remains to be determined.https://www.ebm-journal.org/articles/10.3389/ebm.2025.10422/fulllentiviral vectorsadeno-associated virusAAVliverPAHgender
spellingShingle Efrain Guzman
Cheen Khoo
Deirdre O’Connor
Gayathri Devarajan
Sharifah Iqball
Bernard Souberbielle
Kyriacos Mitrophanous
Yatish Lad
Gender difference in pre-clinical liver-directed gene therapy with lentiviral vectors
Experimental Biology and Medicine
lentiviral vectors
adeno-associated virus
AAV
liver
PAH
gender
title Gender difference in pre-clinical liver-directed gene therapy with lentiviral vectors
title_full Gender difference in pre-clinical liver-directed gene therapy with lentiviral vectors
title_fullStr Gender difference in pre-clinical liver-directed gene therapy with lentiviral vectors
title_full_unstemmed Gender difference in pre-clinical liver-directed gene therapy with lentiviral vectors
title_short Gender difference in pre-clinical liver-directed gene therapy with lentiviral vectors
title_sort gender difference in pre clinical liver directed gene therapy with lentiviral vectors
topic lentiviral vectors
adeno-associated virus
AAV
liver
PAH
gender
url https://www.ebm-journal.org/articles/10.3389/ebm.2025.10422/full
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AT gayathridevarajan genderdifferenceinpreclinicalliverdirectedgenetherapywithlentiviralvectors
AT sharifahiqball genderdifferenceinpreclinicalliverdirectedgenetherapywithlentiviralvectors
AT bernardsouberbielle genderdifferenceinpreclinicalliverdirectedgenetherapywithlentiviralvectors
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