Gene therapy overexpressing Tbx20 induces cell proliferation and angiogenesis in cardiomyocyte culture

BAUZÁ MARÍA DEL ROSARIO; LÓPEZ AE; SIMONIN JA; BELAICH M.; CIMBARO FS; CUNIBERTI L; CROTTOGINI AJ; LOCATELLI P; OLEA FD

Capital Federal

Congreso; Reunión anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Fisiología; 2021

Sociedad Argentina de Fisiología

Introduction: transcription factor Tbx20 has been described as an inductor of cell proliferation and angiogenesis. We hypothesized that gene therapy overexpressing Tbx20, would promote myocardial regeneration after myocardial infarction.Objectives: to design baculovirus encoding Tbx20 gene (Bv-Tbx20) to be used as gene therapy vector and evaluate its functionality on the increase in cell proliferation, cell cycle gene expression, and angiogenesis in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (CM) Methods: in culture of CM transduced with BvTbx20 and BvNull (placebo) at 2 and 5 days post transduction was measured, CM proliferation by cell counting and MTS assay, angiogenesis by HMEC cells proliferation cultured with supernatants and gene expression of angiogenic (vegf, angiopoietin, angiogenin, and prokr2) and cell cycle genes (Cyclin D1, MEF2C, p21) by RT-qPCR. Data were analyzed statically using Student Test to compare means between groups and expressed as mean±SD. Results: at 2 days post-transduction, CM-BvTbx20 showed higher percentage of cell proliferation (CM-BvTbx20: 113±6.7 vs. CM-BvNull: 100±8.4%, p