1Department of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China
2Neuroscience and Neuroengineering Center, Med-X Research Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China
Corresponding authors: Zhijun Zhang and Guo-Yuan Yang. E-mail: zhangzhij@gmail.com; gyyang0626@gmail.com

Abstract 

Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) plays a beneficial role in the sub-acute phase after ischemic stroke. However, unrestrained MMP-9 may disrupt the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which has limited its use for the treatment of brain ischemia. In the present study, we constructed lentivirus mediated hypoxia-controlled MMP-9 expression and explored its role after stroke. Hypoxia response element (HRE) was used to confine MMP-9 expression only to the hypoxic region of mouse brain after 120-min transient middle cerebral artery occlusion. Lentiviruses were injected into the peri-infarct area on day 7 after transient ischemia. We found hyperexpression of exogenous HRE-MMP-9 under the control of hypoxia, and its expression was mainly located in neurons and astrocytes without aggravation of BBB damage compared to the CMV group. Furthermore, mice in the HRE-MMP-9 group showed the best behavioral recovery compared with the normal saline, GFP, and SB-3CT groups. Therefore, hypoxia-controlled MMP-9 hyperexpression during the sub-acute phase of ischemia may provide a novel promising approach of gene therapy for stroke.

Keywords

blood-brain barrier; hypoxia response element; matrix metalloproteinase 9; stroke

[SpringerLink]