Lentivirus-mediated transfection of chondroitinase ABC gene without the bacterial leader sequence enables long-term secretion of functional chondroitinase ABC in human bone marrow stromal cells

Objective To test the feasibility of secretion of functional chondroitinase ABC (ChABC), a bacterial enzyme that promotes axonal regeneration after spinal cord injury, from human bone marrow stromal cells (hBMSCs). Results A lentiviral-expression vector, Lenti6.3-ChABC-3F, carrying the ChABC-3F gene without the bacterial leader sequence (aa 1-24) was constructed. Transfection of these Lenti6.3-ChABC-3F lentivirus led to stable expression in and secrection of ChABC proteins from hBMSCs for at least ten passages in culture in vitro, which was demonstrated by QRT-PCR, immunostaining, western blotting and ELISA. Moreover, the secreted ChABC proteins exhibited similar functional activity as the commercially-available ChABC. Conclusions The lentivirus-mediated transfection of chondroitinase ABC gene without the bacterial leader sequence induced substantial long-term secretion of functional ChABC in hBMSCs.