Figure 3.
HCQ Increases AAV Transduction in Non-human Primate (NHP) Retinal Pigment Epithelium (RPE) Cells and Human Retina
(A–D) Primary macaque RPE cells were treated with 0, 3.13, or 18.75 μM HCQ for 1 h prior to transduction with 2 × 109 gc AAV2.GFP. (A) Representative fluorescence microscopy images acquired on day 3 post-transduction (scale bar, 200 μm). (B) Levels of GFP mRNA in AAV- and HCQ-treated RPE cells were quantified using qRT-PCR on day 3 post-transduction, and they are expressed as mean fold change relative to cells treated with AAV only (±SEM, n = 3). *p ≤ 0.05 (one-way ANOVA with Dunnett’s multiple comparison test). (C) Representative western blot of GFP protein expression with β-actin used as a loading control. (D) Quantification of GFP band density normalized to β-actin. Data are presented as mean ± SEM (n = 2). (E and F) Fresh patient-derived retinal explants were treated ex vivo with 0 or 3.13 μM HCQ for 1 h prior to transduction with 1 × 109 gc AAV2.GFP (UK research ethics approval 10/H0505/8). (E) Representative transmission microscopy image at baseline and fluorescence images acquired on alternate days up to day 11 post-transduction (scale bar, 100 μm). (F) GFP expression was estimated by calculating the mean gray value of fluorescence images from two separate patients. These were normalized to untransduced controls treated with equivalent concentrations of HCQ. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM (3 replicates/patient). **p ≤ 0.01, ****p ≤ 0.0001 (two-way repeated-measures ANOVA with Šídák’s multiple comparisons test).