ADENOASSOCIATED VIRUS-MEDIATED GENE-TRANSFER INTO HUMAN RETINAL-PIGMENT EPITHELIUM-CELLS

Purpose: Adeno-associated virus (AAV) is emerging as a promising vecto r for gene therapy. Method: To determine the ability of recombinant AA V (rAAV) to express and integrate exogenous DNA into human retinal pig ment epi thelium (RPE) cells, a rAAV-GFP vector containing the green f luorescent protein (gfp) and neomycin resistance (neo(r)) genes was co nstructed and used to transduce RPE 407A cell line. Results: Fluoresce nt RPE cell clones were obtained and were confirmed to still be expres sing GFP after 24 passages (3.5 months). Conclusion: Adeno-associated virus-based vectors are able to efficiently transduce and stably persi st in RPE cells.