# Characterization of Immune Response to an Improved Matrix Metalloproteinase-Targeting Adeno-Associated Virus

> **NIH NIH F30** · RICE UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $45,186

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
 Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the US. Research on the use of gene therapy for
cardiovascular purposes is quickly advancing but face critical problems, such as off-target effects and host
immune response against the vectors. Adeno-associated virus (AAV) is a promising gene delivery vector and
has been used in more than 200 clinical trials worldwide. The goal of this project is to create an improved AAV-
based vector with targeted delivery and to characterize the host immune response to this vector in comparison
to unmodified AAV capsid. Our lab has created a protease-activatable AAV vector, called the provector, that
can deliver transgenes to sites with elevated extracellular proteases. The provector is locked (“OFF” state) until
cleaved by matrix metalloproteinases (“ON” state), which are elevated in diseases such as post-myocardial
infarction cardiac remodeling, congestive heart failure, and atherosclerosis. The prototype provector, however,
has incomplete de-targeting, which may lead to undesired side-effects. This project seeks to optimize
provector de-targeting in the OFF state while maintaining transduction in the ON state. Additionally, the in vivo
behavior of the optimized provector will be explored and key components in the immune response to this
provector and the unmodified capsid will be identified.
 To achieve these objectives, two specific aims will be completed. First, the provector will be optimized for
increased on-target activation and decreased off-target activity. To do so, a mosaic provector will be created in
which some subunits will contain a strong peptide lock optimized for decreased transduction in the OFF state,
while others will be wild-type to increase ON state activity. The virus’s physical properties and ON
and OFF transduction profiles will be characterized in vitro. Second, key components in the immune response
against AAV will be identified. Both the optimized provector and the wild-type AAV capsid will be administered
to immune competent and several immune deficient strains of mice. The overall virus behavior and immune
response generated will be measured after one administration and after re-administration. The responses of
different mice strains will be compared to identify essential immune components and their effect on virus
behavior and immune response. This research is significant because it will create a more effective protease-
activatable provector and will offer a comparative study on the effect of various immune system components
on anti-AAV immune response and virus behavior. As a result, this study will identify key components that can
be targeted for the developing of immune-evasive vectors in the future. These results have significant
implications on the development of targeted and immune-evasive vectors for clinical use, which will greatly
advance the field of AAV-based gene therapy and create new treatments for a variety of diseases.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10240324
- **Project number:** 5F30HL146032-03
- **Recipient organization:** RICE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Maria Yanqing Chen
- **Activity code:** F30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $45,186
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-08-15 → 2022-05-24

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10240324

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10240324, Characterization of Immune Response to an Improved Matrix Metalloproteinase-Targeting Adeno-Associated Virus (5F30HL146032-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10240324. Licensed CC0.

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