Halting angiogenesis by non-viral somatic gene therapy alleviates psoriasis and murine psoriasiform skin lesions

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearch

  • John Robert Zibert
  • Katrin Wallbrecht
  • Margarete Schön
  • Lluis M Mir
  • Grete K Jacobsen
  • Veronique Trochon-Joseph
  • Céline Bouquet
  • Louise S Villadsen
  • Ruggero Cadossi
  • Skov, Lone
  • Michael P Schön
Dysregulated angiogenesis is a hallmark of chronic inflammatory diseases, including psoriasis, a common skin disorder that affects approximately 2% of the population. Studying both human psoriasis in 2 complementary xenotransplantation models and psoriasis-like skin lesions in transgenic mice with epidermal expression of human TGF-ß1, we have demonstrated that antiangiogenic non-viral somatic gene therapy reduces the cutaneous microvasculature and alleviates chronic inflammatory skin disorders. Transient muscular expression of the recombinant disintegrin domain (RDD) of metargidin (also known as ADAM-15) by in vivo electroporation reduced cutaneous angiogenesis and vascularization in all 3 models. As demonstrated using red fluorescent protein-coupled RDD, the treatment resulted in muscular expression of the gene product and its deposition within the cutaneous hyperangiogenic connective tissue. High-resolution ultrasound revealed reduced cutaneous blood flow in vivo after electroporation with RDD but not with control plasmids. In addition, angiogenesis- and inflammation-related molecular markers, keratinocyte proliferation, epidermal thickness, and clinical disease scores were downregulated in all models. Thus, non-viral antiangiogenic gene therapy can alleviate psoriasis and may do so in other angiogenesis-related inflammatory skin disorders.
Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Clinical Investigation
Volume121
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)410-21
Number of pages12
ISSN0021-9738
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4 Jan 2011

ID: 34124698