The use of adeno-associated virus (AAV) as a gene therapy vector has been approved recently for clinical use and has demonstrated efficacy in a growing number of clinical trials. However, the safety of AAV as a vector has been challenged by a single study that documented hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after AAV gene delivery in mice. Most studies have not noted genotoxicity following AAV-mediated gene delivery; therefore, the possibility that there is an association between AAV and HCC is controversial. Here, we performed a comprehensive study of HCC in a large number of mice following therapeutic AAV gene delivery. Using a sensitive high-throughput integration site-capture technique and global expressional analysis, we found that AAV integration into the RNA imprinted and accumulated in nucleus (
Randy J. Chandler, Matthew C. LaFave, Gaurav K. Varshney, Niraj S. Trivedi, Nuria Carrillo-Carrasco, Julien S. Senac, Weiwei Wu, Victoria Hoffmann, Abdel G. Elkahloun, Shawn M. Burgess, Charles P. Venditti
Global RNA and miRNA expression profiles of HCC versus normal liver tissue.