Short-Fiber Protein of Ad40 Confers Enteric Tropism and Protection Against Acidic Gastrointestinal Conditions

Abstract The lack of vectors for selective gene delivery to the intestine has hampered the development of gene therapy strategies for intestinal diseases. We hypothesized that chimeric adenoviruses of Ad5 (species C) displaying proteins of the naturally enteric Ad40 (species F) might hold the intestinal tropism of the species F and thus be useful for gene delivery to the intestine. As oral–fecal dissemination of enteric adenovirus must withstand the conditions encountered in the gastrointestinal tract, we studied the resistance of chimeric Ad5 carrying the short-fiber protein of Ad40 to acid milieu and proteases and found that the Ad40 short fiber confers resistance to inactivation in acidic conditions and that AdF/40S was further activated upon exposure to low pH. In contrast, the chimeric AdF/40S exhibited only a slightly higher protease resistance compared with Ad5 to proteases present in simulated gastric juice. Then, the biodistribution of different chimeric adenoviruses by oral, rectal, and intraven...