Herpes Simplex Virus Vector-Mediated Gene Delivery of Poreless TRPV1 Channels Reduces Bladder Overactivity and Nociception in Rats.

Increased afferent excitability has been proposed as an important pathophysiology of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) and overactive bladder (OAB). In this study, we investigated whether herpes simplex virus (HSV) vectors encoding poreless TRPV1, in which the segment in C terminus of TRPV1 receptor is deleted, suppress bladder overactivity and pain behavior using a rat model of chemical cystitis. Replication-defective HSV vectors encoding poreless TRPV1 were injected into the bladder wall of adult female Sprague-Dawley rats. Additionally, recombinant HSV virus (vHG) vectors were injected as control. Cystometry (CMG) under urethane anesthesia was performed 1 week after viral injection to evaluate bladder overactivity induced by resiniferatoxin (RTx, a TRPV1 agonist). RTx-induced nociceptive behavior such as licking (lower abdominal licking) and freezing (motionless head-turning) was observed 2 weeks after viral injection. GFP expression in L4/L6/S1 dorsal root ganglia and the bladder as well as c-Fos-positive cells in the L6 spinal cord dorsal horn were also evaluated 2 weeks after viral injection. In CMG, the poreless TRPV1 vector-treated group showed a significantly smaller reduction in intercontraction intervals and voided volume after RTx infusion than the vHG-treated control group. The number of the RTx-induced freezing events was significantly decreased in the poreless TRPV1 group than in the vHG group, whereas there was no significant difference of the number of RTx-induced licking events between groups. The number of c-Fos-positive cells in the DCM and SPN regions of the L6 spinal dorsal horn was significantly smaller in the poreless TRPV1 group than in the vHG group. Our results indicated that HSV vector-mediated gene delivery of poreless TRPV1 had a therapeutic effect on TRPV1-mediated bladder overactivity and pain behavior. Thus, the HSV vector-mediated gene therapy targeting TRPV1 receptors could be a novel modality for the treatment of OAB and/or hypersensitive bladder disorders such as IC/BPS.