Construction of the recombinant human endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene adenovirus and its expression in human vascular smooth muscle cells

Objective To construct recombinant adenovirus vector carrying the human endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene (heNOS) and detect its expression in human vascular smooth muscle cells in vitro. Methods heNOS was cloned by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using plasmid PMSCV-heNOS,heNOS cDNA was inserted into adenovirus shuttle plasmid-PSUCMV to generate a recombinant plasmid PSUCMV-heNOS, transfected into E. coli DH5α, and positive clones were correctly constructed and confirmed by DNA sequencing analysis and restriction endonucleas analysis. The plasmid PSUCMV-heNOS was co-transfected with pBHGE3 in 293 cells to generate replication-defective recombinant adenovirus vector carrying heNOS gene. Human vascular smooth muscle cells were transfected by Ad-heNOS. The effect on the proliferation of human vascular smooth muscle cells was investigated by MTT assay. The expression of heNOS was detected by immunohistochemistry staining and Western blotting. Results ( 1 ) PCR, restrictive digestion, and sequencing revealed the successful construction of the recombinant adenovirus vector carrying heNOS gene and its titer was 3.5 × 1010 PFU/ml; (2) It was confirmed that the human vascular smooth muscle cells cultivated in vitro were characterized by morphology and immunohistochemistry strain of α-actin; (3) At 120 h, the A570 values in multiplicity of infection (MOI) 50, 150,250,300,450 were respectively 1. 410 ±0. 081, 1. 357 ±0. 150, 1.303 ±0. 311,0. 995 ±0. 248 and 0. 731 ±0. 101. The proliferation of human vascular smooth muscle cells was significantly and stably inhibited with MOI 300 of AdCMVheNOS ( P ＜ 0. 01 ). Immunostaining and Western blotting with heNOS in engineered cells were positive.Conclusion The successful construction of AdCMV-heNOS and expression may provide an opportunity for the gene therapy of vascular intimal hyperplasia. Key words: Nitric oxide synthase;  Vascular smooth muscle cells;  Gene transfection