Fig. 4. Biodistribution of transgene expression in vivo.
(A) Ads with hexon modifications demonstrate reduced liver transduction in vivo following systemic administration. Female C57BL6J mice (5-7 weeks old, n=5 per group) were injected through the tail vein with 5 × 108 TCID50 of AdH5/H3CMVLuc, AdH5*7*CMVLuc or AdH3CMVLuc vectors or AdH5CMVLuc alone or following pretreatment with warfarin (AdH5CMVLuc + W). Three days after injection animals were humanely sacrificed, major organs were harvested and snap frozen in ethanol/dry ice mix and assessed for reporter gene expression using Luc assay. (B) The lung-to-liver and spleen-to-liver ratios were significantly increased in mice following i.v. injection with hexon-modified Ads and after pretreatment warfarin in comparison with wild-type hexon AdH5CMVLuc alone. Data are means ± s.d. (*, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01; ***, P < 0.001 vs AdH5cmvLuc).