Structural basis of liver de-targeting and neuronal tropism of CNS-targeted AAV capsids.

ABSTRACT: Crossing the blood-brain barrier while minimizing liver transduction is a key challenge in developing safe adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors for treating brain disorders. In mice, the engineered capsid PHP.eB shows enhanced brain transduction, while the further engineered CAP-B10 is also de-targeted from astrocytes and liver. Here, we solve cryo-EM structures of CAP-B10 and its complex with AAV receptor (AAVR) domain PKD2, at 2.22 and 2.20 Å resolutions, respectively. These structures reveal a structural motif that hinders AAVR binding, which we confirm by measuring affinities. We show that this motif is transferable to other capsids by solving cryo-EM structures of AAV9-X1 and AAV9-X1.1, without and with PKD2, at 3.09, 2.51, and 2.18 Å, respectively. Using this structural information,

SUBMITTER: Brittain TJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12157541 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature