Dentin is a major type of hard tissue of teeth and plays essential roles for normal tooth function. Odontoblasts are responsible for dentin formation. Mutations or deficiency in various genes affect the differentiation of odontoblasts, leading to irreversible dentin developmental defects in animals and humans. Whether such dentin defects can be reversed by gene therapy for odontoblasts remains unknown. In this study, we compare the infection efficiencies of six commonly used adeno-associated virus (AAV) serotypes (AAV1, AAV5, AAV6, AAV8, AAV9, and AAVDJ) in cultured mouse odontoblast-like cells (OLCs). We show that AAV6 serotype infects OLCs with the highest efficiency among the six AAVs. Two cellular receptors, which are able to recognize AAV6, AAV receptor (AAVR), and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), are strongly expressed in the odontoblast layer of mouse teeth. After local administration to mouse molars, AAV6 infects the odontoblast layer with high efficiency. Furthermore, AAV6-Mdm2 was successfully delivered to teeth and prevents the defects in odontoblast differentiation and dentin formation in Mdm2 conditional knockout mice (a mouse model of dentinogenesis imperfecta type Ⅲ). These results suggest that AAV6 can serve as a reliable and efficient vehicle for gene delivery to odontoblasts through local injection. In addition, human OLCs were also successfully infected by AAV6 with high efficiency, and both AAVR and EGFR are strongly expressed in the odontoblast layer of extracted human developing teeth. These findings suggest that AAV6-mediated gene therapy through local injection may be a promising treatment approach for hereditary dentin disorders in humans.
Keywords: dentin; gene expression; gene therapy; mouse double minute 2 homolog; tooth development; transgenic mice.