INTRASPINAL GRAFTING OF FIBROBLASTS GENETICALLY-MODIFIED BY RECOMBINANT ADENOVIRUSES

INTRACEREBRAL or intraspinal grafting of genetically modified primary fibroblasts has been shown to enhance functional recovery in several m odels of CNS disease, including spinal cord injury. Most of these stud ies utilized retrovirus vectors. In this report, we describe in vitro conditions for genetically modifying primary fibroblasts with recombin ant adenovirus vectors carrying the lacZ or green fluorescent protein (GFP) genes. As intraspinal allografts in animals immunosuppressed by cyclosporin A, the genetically modified cells survived and expressed t he transgenes for at least 2 months. We conclude that recombinant aden ovirus vectors are efficient and convenient tools for ex vivo gene the rapy in the CNS. (C) 1998 Rapid Science Ltd.