Recombinant adeno-associated virus serotype 9 with p65 ribozyme protects H9c2 cells from oxidative stress through inhibiting NF-κB signaling pathway.

Background: Oxidative stress is a major mechanism underlying the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease. It can trigger inflammatory cascades which are primarily mediated via nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB). The NF-κB transcription factor family includes several subunits (p50, p52, p65, c-Rel, and Rel B) that respond to myocardial ischemia. It has been proved that persistent myocyte NF-κB p65 activation in heart failure exacerbates cardiac remodeling. A recombinant adeno-associated virus serotype 9 carrying enhanced green fluorescent protein and anti-NF-κB p65 ribozyme (AAV9-R65-CMV-eGFP) was constructed. The cells were assessed by MTT assay, Annexin V-propidium iodide dual staining to study apoptosis. The expression of P65 and P50 were assessed by Western blot to investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms.

Results: After stimulation with H2O2 for 6 h, H9c2 cells viability decreased significantly, a large fraction of cells underwent apoptosis. We observed a rescue of H9c2 cells from H2O2-induced apoptosis in pretreatment with AAV9-R65-CMV-eGFP. Moreover, AAV9-R65-CMV-eGFP decreased H2O2-induced P65 expression.

Conclusions: AAV9-R65-CMV-eGFP protects H9c2 cells from oxidative stress induced apoptosis through down-regulation of P65 expression. These observations indicate that AAV9-R65-CMV-eGFP has the potential to exert cardioprotective effects against oxidative stress, which might be of great importance to clinical efficacy for cardiovascular disease.