High-Efficiency Transduction of Liver Cancer Cells by Recombinant Adeno-Associated Virus Serotype 3 Vectors

Recombinant vectors based on a non-pathogenic human parvovirus, the adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV2) have been developed, and are currently in use in a number of gene therapy clinical trials. More recently, a number of additional AAV serotypes have also been isolated, which have been shown to exhibit selective tissue-tropism in various small and large animal models1. Of the 10 most commonly used AAV serotypes, AAV3 is by far the least efficient in transducing cells and tissues in vitro as well as in vivo

Human Hepatocyte Growth Factor Receptor Is a Cellular Coreceptor for Adeno-Associated Virus Serotype 3

Ling et al. identify human hepatocyte growth factor (hHGFR) as a novel receptor/coreceptor necessary for AAV3 entry into liver-specific cells. Using a variety of methods, the authors show that interference with the cell surface expression of HGFR significantly reduces the transduction efficiency of AAV3 vectors. Subsequent in vitro and in vivo experiments revealed that AAV3 specifically utilizes human HGFR (hHGFR), and not mouse HGFR (mHGFR)