Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease; survival in ALS is typically 3-5 years. No treatment extends patient survival by more than three months. Approximately 20% of familial ALS and 1-3% of sporadic ALS patients carry a mutation in the gene encoding superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1). In a transgenic ALS mouse model expressing the mutant SOD1(G93A) protein, silencing the SOD1 gene prolongs survival. One study reports a therapeutic effect of silencing the SOD1 gene in systemically treated adult ALS mice; this was achieved with a short hairpin RNA, a silencing molecule that has raised multiple safety concerns, and recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) 9. We report here a silencing method based on an artificial microRNA termed miR-SOD1 systemically delivered using adeno-associated virus rAAVrh10, a serotype with a demonstrated safety profile in CNS clinical trials. Silencing of SOD1 in adult SOD1(G93A) transgenic mice with this construct profoundly delayed both disease onset and death in the SOD1(G93A) mice, and significantly preserved muscle strength and motor and respiratory functions. We also document that intrathecal delivery of the same rAAVrh10-miR-SOD1 in nonhuman primates significantly and safely silences SOD1 in lower motor neurons. This study supports the view that rAAVrh10-miR-SOD1 merits further development for the treatment of SOD1-linked ALS in humans.

In a recent Nature Genetics letter, entitled “Recurrent AAV2-related insertional mutagenesis in human hepatocellular carcinomas,” Nault and colleaguesdocument that of 193 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), 11 contained an integrated genome sequence of the wild-type adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV2), and suggest that AAV2 is associated with oncogenic insertional mutagenesis in human HCC. Because AAV2 has long been known to be a nonpathogenic human parvovirus and, in fact, has been shown to possess antitumor activity, it is critical that the scientific and clinical implications of these studies be rigorously assessed to justify their conclusions. We have carefully analyzed the data presented by Nault and colleaguesand reached a conclusion that is at variance with that of the authors.