Tropism-shifted AAV-PHP.eB-mediated bFGF gene therapy promotes varied neurorestoration after ischemic stroke in mice

AAV-PHP.eB is an artificial adeno-associated virus (AAV) that crosses the blood–brain barrier and targets neurons more efficiently than other AAVs when administered systematically. While AAV-PHP.eB has been used in various disease models, its cellular tropism in cerebrovascular diseases remains uncl...

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Main Authors: Rubing Shi, Jing Ye, Ze Liu, Cheng Wang, Shengju Wu, Hui Shen, Qian Suo, Wanlu Li, Xiaosong He, Zhijun Zhang, Yaohui Tang, Guo-Yuan Yang, Yongting Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2026-02-01
Series:Neural Regeneration Research
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Online Access:https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/NRR.NRR-D-23-01802
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Summary:AAV-PHP.eB is an artificial adeno-associated virus (AAV) that crosses the blood–brain barrier and targets neurons more efficiently than other AAVs when administered systematically. While AAV-PHP.eB has been used in various disease models, its cellular tropism in cerebrovascular diseases remains unclear. In the present study, we aimed to elucidate the tropism of AAV-PHP.eB for different cell types in the brain in a mouse model of ischemic stroke and evaluate its effectiveness in mediating basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) gene therapy. Mice were injected intravenously with AAV-PHP.eB either 14 days prior to (pre-stroke) or 1 day following (post-stroke) transient middle cerebral artery occlusion. Notably, we observed a shift in tropism from neurons to endothelial cells with post-stroke administration of AAV-PHP.eB-mNeonGreen (mNG). This endothelial cell tropism correlated strongly with expression of the endothelial membrane receptor lymphocyte antigen 6 family member A (Ly6A). Furthermore, AAV-PHP.eB-mediated overexpression of bFGF markedly improved neurobehavioral outcomes and promoted long-term neurogenesis and angiogenesis post–ischemic stroke. Our findings underscore the significance of considering potential tropism shifts when utilizing AAV-PHP.eB-mediated gene therapy in neurological diseases and suggest a promising new strategy for bFGF gene therapy in stroke treatment.
ISSN:1673-5374
1876-7958