Comparison between the adeno-associated virus and lentivirus as small interfering RNA carrying vector

Objective To construct recombinant adeno-associated virus and lentivirus carrying siRNA of TIMP-1 and to investigate the efficiency of infection and short-term inhibitory effect of TIMP-1 gene expres-sion on rat hepatic stellate cells. Methods One pair of siRNA which could effectively inhibit expression of the TIMP-1 gene in HSC-T6 was screened and cloned into AAV vector and lentiviral vector to construct the recombinant AAV/siRNA-TIMP-1/GFP and Lenti/siRNA-TIMP-1/GFP. AAV/GFP and Lenti/GFP as neg-ative control were also obtained. Experiments were assigned to five groups: AAV/siRNA-TIMP-1/GFP, AAV/GFP, Lenti/siRNA-TIMP-1/GFP, Lenti/GFP group and mock group. Rat HSC-T6 cells were infected by these recombinant viruses at a concentration of MOI by 10. To monitor the efficiency of infection, fluores-cence microscope and flow cytometer were used. After 7 d post-infection, Western blot was used to detect the TIMP-1 protein expression. Results HSC-T6 had no significant changes after infection. The efficiency of infection in AAV/GFP and Lenti/GFP group were 72.7% and 70.0%, AAV/siRNA-TIMP-1/GFP and Lenti/siRNA-TIMP-1/GFP group were 64.58% and 61.86%. The protein expression levels of TIMP-1 in HSC-T6 cells at 7 d post-infection by the recombinant AAV and Lentivirus were decreased 40.0% compared with those in mock control and normal HSC-T6 (P<0.05). Conclusion Recombinant AAV/siRNA-TIMP-1/GFP and Lenti/siRNA-TIMP-1/GFP could effectively infect HSC-T6 with similar efficiency and suppress the expression of TIMP-1 in rat HSC-T6 remarkably. Key words: adeno-associated virus; lentivirus; small interfering RNA; tissue inhibitor of metalloprotein-ase-1; hepatic stellate cells