Antioxidant Fusion Protein SOD1-Tat Increases the Engraftment Efficiency of Total Bone Marrow Cells in Irradiated Mice

Total body irradiation is a standard procedure of bone marrow transplantation (BMT) which causes a rapid increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the bone marrow microenvironment during BMT. The increase in ROS reduces the engraftment ability of donor cells, thereby affecting the bone marrow recovery of recipients after BMT. In the early weeks following transplantation, recipients are at high risk of severe infection due to weakened hematopoiesis. Thus, it is imperative to improve engraftment capacity and accelerate bone marrow recovery in BMT recipients. In this study, we constructed recombinant copper/zinc superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) fused with the cell-penetrating peptide (CPP), the trans-activator of transcription (Tat), and showed that this fusion protein has penetrating ability and antioxidant activity in both RAW264.7 cells and bone marrow cells in vitro. Furthermore, irradiated mice transplanted with SOD1-Tat-treated total bone marrow donor cells showed an increase in total bone marrow engraftment capacity two weeks after transplantation. This study explored an innovative method for enhancing engraftment efficiency and highlights the potential of CPP-SOD1 in ROS manipulation during BMT.