Intra-articular gene therapy has potential for the treatment of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. To quantify in vitro relative\ngene transduction, equine chondrocytes and synovial cells were treated with adenovirus vectors (Ad), serotype 2 adeno-associated\nvirus vectors (rAAV2), or self-complementary (sc) AAV2 vectors carrying green fluorescent protein (GFP). Using 6 horses, bilateral\nmetacarpophalangeal joints were injected with Ad, rAAV2, or scAAV2 vectors carrying GFP genes to assess the in vivo joint\ninflammation and neutralizing antibody (NAb) titer in serum and joint fluid. In vitro, the greater transduction efficiency and\nsustained gene expression were achieved by scAAV2 compared to rAAV2 in equine chondrocytes and synovial cells. In vivo, AAV2\ndemonstrated less joint inflammation than Ad, but similar NAb titer. The scAAV2 vectors can induce superior gene transduction\nthan rAAV2 in articular cells, and both rAAV2 and scAAV2 vectors were showed to be safer for intra-articular use than Ad vectors.
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