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1.
Nat Commun ; 15(1): 3662, 2024 Apr 30.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38688902

ABSTRACT

Hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy (GT) using a γ-retroviral vector (γ-RV) is an effective treatment for Severe Combined Immunodeficiency due to Adenosine Deaminase deficiency. Here, we describe a case of GT-related T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) that developed 4.7 years after treatment. The patient underwent chemotherapy and haploidentical transplantation and is currently in remission. Blast cells contain a single vector insertion activating the LIM-only protein 2 (LMO2) proto-oncogene, confirmed by physical interaction, and low Adenosine Deaminase (ADA) activity resulting from methylation of viral promoter. The insertion is detected years before T-ALL in multiple lineages, suggesting that further hits occurred in a thymic progenitor. Blast cells contain known and novel somatic mutations as well as germline mutations which may have contributed to transformation. Before T-ALL onset, the insertion profile is similar to those of other ADA-deficient patients. The limited incidence of vector-related adverse events in ADA-deficiency compared to other γ-RV GT trials could be explained by differences in transgenes, background disease and patient's specific factors.


Subject(s)
Adenosine Deaminase , Agammaglobulinemia , Genetic Therapy , Genetic Vectors , Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation , Precursor T-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma , Proto-Oncogene Mas , Severe Combined Immunodeficiency , Humans , Adenosine Deaminase/deficiency , Adenosine Deaminase/genetics , Genetic Therapy/methods , Precursor T-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma/therapy , Precursor T-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma/genetics , Severe Combined Immunodeficiency/therapy , Severe Combined Immunodeficiency/genetics , Genetic Vectors/genetics , Agammaglobulinemia/therapy , Agammaglobulinemia/genetics , Male , Retroviridae/genetics
2.
Stem Cells Transl Med ; 12(10): 676-688, 2023 10 05.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37616262

ABSTRACT

In a steady state, hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) exhibit very low levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Upon stress, HSC get activated and enter into proliferation and differentiation process to ensure blood cell regeneration. Once activated, their levels of ROS increase, as messengers to mediate their proliferation and differentiation programs. However, at the end of the stress episode, ROS levels need to return to normal to avoid HSC exhaustion. It was shown that antioxidants can prevent loss of HSC self-renewal potential in several contexts such as aging or after exposure to low doses of irradiation suggesting that antioxidants can be used to maintain HSC functional properties upon culture-induced stress. Indeed, in humans, HSC are increasingly used for cell and gene therapy approaches, requiring them to be cultured for several days. As expected, we show that a short culture period leads to drastic defects in HSC functional properties. Moreover, a switch of HSC transcriptional program from stemness to differentiation was evidenced in cultured HSC. Interestingly, cultured-HSC treated with 4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-oxyl (4-hydroxy-TEMPO or Tempol) exhibited a higher clonogenic potential in secondary colony forming unit cell (CFU-C) assay and higher reconstitution potential in xenograft model, compared to untreated cultured-HSC. By transcriptomic analyses combined with serial CFU-C assays, we show that Tempol, which mimics superoxide dismutase, protects HSC from culture-induced stress partly through VEGFα signaling. Thus, we demonstrate that adding Tempol leads to the protection of HSC functional properties during ex vivo culture.


Subject(s)
Antioxidants , Hematopoietic Stem Cells , Humans , Antioxidants/pharmacology , Reactive Oxygen Species , Cyclic N-Oxides/pharmacology , Cells, Cultured , Cell Proliferation
3.
J Allergy Clin Immunol ; 151(6): 1634-1645, 2023 06.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36638922

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and gene therapy (GT) are potentially curative treatments for severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). Late-onset posttreatment manifestations (such as persistent hepatitis) are not uncommon. OBJECTIVE: We sought to characterize the prevalence and pathophysiology of persistent hepatitis in transplanted SCID patients (SCIDH+) and to evaluate risk factors and treatments. METHODS: We used various techniques (including pathology assessments, metagenomics, single-cell transcriptomics, and cytometry by time of flight) to perform an in-depth study of different tissues from patients in the SCIDH+ group and corresponding asymptomatic similarly transplanted SCID patients without hepatitis (SCIDH-). RESULTS: Eleven patients developed persistent hepatitis (median of 6 years after HSCT or GT). This condition was associated with the chronic detection of enteric viruses (human Aichi virus, norovirus, and sapovirus) in liver and/or stools, which were not found in stools from the SCIDH- group (n = 12). Multiomics analysis identified an expansion of effector memory CD8+ T cells with high type I and II interferon signatures. Hepatitis was associated with absence of myeloablation during conditioning, split chimerism, and defective B-cell function, representing 25% of the 44 patients with SCID having these characteristics. Partially myeloablative retransplantation or GT of patients with this condition (which we have named as "enteric virus infection associated with hepatitis") led to the reconstitution of T- and B-cell immunity and remission of hepatitis in 5 patients, concomitantly with viral clearance. CONCLUSIONS: Enteric virus infection associated with hepatitis is related to chronic enteric viral infection and immune dysregulation and is an important risk for transplanted SCID patients with defective B-cell function.


Subject(s)
Enterovirus Infections , Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation , Hepatitis , Severe Combined Immunodeficiency , Virus Diseases , Humans , Severe Combined Immunodeficiency/therapy , Severe Combined Immunodeficiency/etiology , CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes , Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation/adverse effects , Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation/methods , Virus Diseases/etiology , Hepatitis/etiology
4.
Cell Rep Med ; 4(2): 100919, 2023 02 21.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36706754

ABSTRACT

X-linked chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is associated with defective phagocytosis, life-threatening infections, and inflammatory complications. We performed a clinical trial of lentivirus-based gene therapy in four patients (NCT02757911). Two patients show stable engraftment and clinical benefits, whereas the other two have progressively lost gene-corrected cells. Single-cell transcriptomic analysis reveals a significantly lower frequency of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in CGD patients, especially in the two patients with defective engraftment. These two present a profound change in HSC status, a high interferon score, and elevated myeloid progenitor frequency. We use elastic-net logistic regression to identify a set of 51 interferon genes and transcription factors that predict the failure of HSC engraftment. In one patient, an aberrant HSC state with elevated CEBPß expression drives HSC exhaustion, as demonstrated by low repopulation in a xenotransplantation model. Targeted treatments to protect HSCs, coupled to targeted gene expression screening, might improve clinical outcomes in CGD.


Subject(s)
Granulomatous Disease, Chronic , Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation , Humans , Genetic Therapy/adverse effects , Granulomatous Disease, Chronic/diagnosis , Granulomatous Disease, Chronic/genetics , Granulomatous Disease, Chronic/therapy , Hematopoietic Stem Cells/metabolism , Inflammation/metabolism , Interferons/metabolism
5.
Kidney Int ; 103(1): 70-76, 2023 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36108807

ABSTRACT

Long-term multilineage hematopoietic donor chimerism occurs sporadically in patients who receive a transplanted solid organ enriched in lymphoid tissues such as the intestine or liver. There is currently no evidence for the presence of kidney-resident hematopoietic stem cells in any mammal species. Graft-versus-host-reactive donor T cells promote engraftment of graft-derived hematopoietic stem cells by making space in the bone marrow. Here, we report full (over 99%) multilineage, donor-derived hematopoietic chimerism in a pediatric kidney transplant recipient with syndromic combined immune deficiency that leads to transplant tolerance. Interestingly, we found that the human kidney-derived hematopoietic stem cells took up long-term residence in the recipient's bone marrow and gradually replaced their host counterparts, leading to blood type conversion and full donor chimerism of both lymphoid and myeloid lineages. Thus, our findings highlight the existence of human kidney-derived hematopoietic stem cells with a self-renewal ability able to support multilineage hematopoiesis.


Subject(s)
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation , Hematopoietic Stem Cells , Animals , Humans , Child , Bone Marrow , T-Lymphocytes , Hematopoiesis , Kidney , Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation/adverse effects , Bone Marrow Transplantation , Mammals
6.
Nat Med ; 28(1): 81-88, 2022 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-35075288

ABSTRACT

Sickle cell disease (SCD) and transfusion-dependent ß-thalassemia (TDT) are the most prevalent monogenic disorders worldwide. Trial HGB-205 ( NCT02151526 ) aimed at evaluating gene therapy by autologous CD34+ cells transduced ex vivo with lentiviral vector BB305 that encodes the anti-sickling ßA-T87Q-globin expressed in the erythroid lineage. HGB-205 is a phase 1/2, open-label, single-arm, non-randomized interventional study of 2-year duration at a single center, followed by observation in long-term follow-up studies LTF-303 ( NCT02633943 ) and LTF-307 ( NCT04628585 ) for TDT and SCD, respectively. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were similar to those for allogeneic transplantation but restricted to patients lacking geno-identical, histocompatible donors. Four patients with TDT and three patients with SCD, ages 13-21 years, were treated after busulfan myeloablation 4.6-7.9 years ago, with a median follow-up of 4.5 years. Key primary endpoints included mortality, engraftment, replication-competent lentivirus and clonal dominance. No adverse events related to the drug product were observed. Clinical remission and remediation of biological hallmarks of the disease have been sustained in two of the three patients with SCD, and frequency of transfusions was reduced in the third. The patients with TDT are all transfusion free with improvement of dyserythropoiesis and iron overload.


Subject(s)
Anemia, Sickle Cell/therapy , Genetic Therapy , Lentivirus/genetics , beta-Thalassemia/therapy , Adolescent , Female , Genetic Therapy/adverse effects , Humans , Male , Treatment Outcome , Young Adult
7.
Nat Commun ; 12(1): 6446, 2021 11 08.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34750385

ABSTRACT

The use of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered regulatory T cells (Tregs) has emerged as a promising strategy to promote immune tolerance. However, in conventional T cells (Tconvs), CAR expression is often associated with tonic signaling, which can induce CAR-T cell dysfunction. The extent and effects of CAR tonic signaling vary greatly according to the expression intensity and intrinsic properties of the CAR. Here, we show that the 4-1BB CSD-associated tonic signal yields a more dramatic effect in CAR-Tregs than in CAR-Tconvs with respect to activation and proliferation. Compared to CD28 CAR-Tregs, 4-1BB CAR-Tregs exhibit decreased lineage stability and reduced in vivo suppressive capacities. Transient exposure of 4-1BB CAR-Tregs to a Treg stabilizing cocktail, including an mTOR inhibitor and vitamin C, during ex vivo expansion sharply improves their in vivo function and expansion after adoptive transfer. This study demonstrates that the negative effects of 4-1BB tonic signaling in Tregs can be mitigated by transient mTOR inhibition.


Subject(s)
Receptors, Chimeric Antigen/immunology , Signal Transduction/immunology , T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory/immunology , TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases/immunology , Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor Superfamily, Member 9/immunology , Animals , CD28 Antigens/immunology , CD28 Antigens/metabolism , Graft vs Host Disease/immunology , Graft vs Host Disease/therapy , HLA-A2 Antigen/immunology , HLA-A2 Antigen/metabolism , Humans , Immunosuppressive Agents/pharmacology , Immunotherapy, Adoptive/methods , Jurkat Cells , Male , Mice, Inbred NOD , Mice, Knockout , Mice, SCID , Receptors, Chimeric Antigen/metabolism , Signal Transduction/drug effects , Sirolimus/pharmacology , T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory/cytology , T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory/metabolism , TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases/antagonists & inhibitors , TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases/metabolism , Transplantation, Heterologous , Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor Superfamily, Member 9/metabolism
8.
Nat Med ; 27(8): 1458-1470, 2021 08.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34140705

ABSTRACT

Gene therapy (GT) has rapidly attracted renewed interest as a treatment for otherwise incurable diseases, with several GT products already on the market and many more entering clinical testing for selected indications. Clonal tracking techniques based on vector integration enable monitoring of the fate of engineered cells in the blood of patients receiving GT and allow assessment of the safety and efficacy of these procedures. However, owing to the limited number of cells that can be tested and the impracticality of studying cells residing in peripheral organs without performing invasive biopsies, this approach provides only a partial snapshot of the clonal repertoire and dynamics of genetically modified cells and reduces the predictive power as a safety readout. In this study, we developed liquid biopsy integration site sequencing, or LiBIS-seq, a polymerase chain reaction technique optimized to quantitatively retrieve vector integration sites from cell-free DNA released into the bloodstream by dying cells residing in several tissues. This approach enabled longitudinal monitoring of in vivo liver-directed GT and clonal tracking in patients receiving hematopoietic stem cell GT, improving our understanding of the clonal composition and turnover of genetically modified cells in solid tissues and, in contrast to conventional analyses based only on circulating blood cells, enabling earlier detection of vector-marked clones that are aberrantly expanding in peripheral tissues.


Subject(s)
Cell-Free Nucleic Acids/genetics , Genetic Vectors/genetics , Cell-Free Nucleic Acids/adverse effects , Genetic Therapy , Humans , Leukemia/genetics , Leukemia/therapy , Leukodystrophy, Metachromatic/genetics , Leukodystrophy, Metachromatic/therapy , Lymphoma/genetics , Lymphoma/therapy
9.
Cell Mol Immunol ; 18(7): 1662-1676, 2021 07.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34117371

ABSTRACT

Several obstacles to the production, expansion and genetic modification of immunotherapeutic T cells in vitro have restricted the widespread use of T-cell immunotherapy. In the context of HSCT, delayed naïve T-cell recovery contributes to poor outcomes. A novel approach to overcome the major limitations of both T-cell immunotherapy and HSCT would be to transplant human T-lymphoid progenitors (HTLPs), allowing reconstitution of a fully functional naïve T-cell pool in the patient thymus. However, it is challenging to produce HTLPs in the high numbers required to meet clinical needs. Here, we found that adding tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) to a DL-4-based culture system led to the generation of a large number of nonmodified or genetically modified HTLPs possessing highly efficient in vitro and in vivo T-cell potential from either CB HSPCs or mPB HSPCs through accelerated T-cell differentiation and enhanced HTLP cell cycling and survival. This study provides a clinically suitable cell culture platform to generate high numbers of clinically potent nonmodified or genetically modified HTLPs for accelerating immune recovery after HSCT and for T-cell-based immunotherapy (including CAR T-cell therapy).


Subject(s)
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation , Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha , Cell Culture Techniques , Cell Differentiation , Humans , Immunotherapy , T-Lymphocytes
10.
Nat Biotechnol ; 39(9): 1095-1102, 2021 09.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33927417

ABSTRACT

Because of the stochasticity associated with high-throughput single-cell sequencing, current methods for exploring cell-type diversity rely on clustering-based computational approaches in which heterogeneity is characterized at cell subpopulation rather than at full single-cell resolution. Here we present Cell-ID, a clustering-free multivariate statistical method for the robust extraction of per-cell gene signatures from single-cell sequencing data. We applied Cell-ID to data from multiple human and mouse samples, including blood cells, pancreatic islets and airway, intestinal and olfactory epithelium, as well as to comprehensive mouse cell atlas datasets. We demonstrate that Cell-ID signatures are reproducible across different donors, tissues of origin, species and single-cell omics technologies, and can be used for automatic cell-type annotation and cell matching across datasets. Cell-ID improves biological interpretation at individual cell level, enabling discovery of previously uncharacterized rare cell types or cell states. Cell-ID is distributed as an open-source R software package.


Subject(s)
Computational Biology/methods , Gene Expression Profiling , Single-Cell Analysis/methods , Animals , Cluster Analysis , High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing/methods , Humans , Mice , Multivariate Analysis
11.
Nat Immunol ; 22(5): 607-619, 2021 05.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33833438

ABSTRACT

FOXP3 deficiency in mice and in patients with immune dysregulation polyendocrinopathy enteropathy X-linked (IPEX) syndrome results in fatal autoimmunity by altering regulatory T (Treg) cells. CD4+ T cells in patients with IPEX syndrome and Foxp3-deficient mice were analyzed by single-cell cytometry and RNA-sequencing, revealing heterogeneous Treg-like cells, some very similar to normal Treg cells, others more distant. Conventional T cells showed no widespread activation or helper T cell bias, but a monomorphic disease signature affected all CD4+ T cells. This signature proved to be cell extrinsic since it was extinguished in mixed bone marrow chimeric mice and heterozygous mothers of patients with IPEX syndrome. Normal Treg cells exerted dominant suppression, quenching the disease signature and revealing in mutant Treg-like cells a small cluster of genes regulated cell-intrinsically by FOXP3, including key homeostatic regulators. We propose a two-step pathogenesis model: cell-intrinsic downregulation of core FOXP3-dependent genes destabilizes Treg cells, de-repressing systemic mediators that imprint the disease signature on all T cells, furthering Treg cell dysfunction. Accordingly, interleukin-2 treatment improved the Treg-like compartment and survival.


Subject(s)
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1/congenital , Diarrhea/genetics , Forkhead Transcription Factors/deficiency , Genetic Diseases, X-Linked/genetics , Immune System Diseases/congenital , T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory/immunology , Adolescent , Animals , Case-Control Studies , Child , Child, Preschool , Cohort Studies , Datasets as Topic , Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1/blood , Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1/genetics , Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1/immunology , Diarrhea/blood , Diarrhea/immunology , Disease Models, Animal , Flow Cytometry , Forkhead Transcription Factors/genetics , Genetic Diseases, X-Linked/blood , Genetic Diseases, X-Linked/immunology , Humans , Immune System Diseases/blood , Immune System Diseases/genetics , Immune System Diseases/immunology , Infant , Male , Mice , Mice, Transgenic , Mutation , RNA-Seq , Single-Cell Analysis , T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory/metabolism , Young Adult
12.
Blood ; 137(17): 2326-2336, 2021 04 29.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33545713

ABSTRACT

Immunodysregulation, polyendocrinopathy, enteropathy, X-linked (IPEX) syndrome is caused by mutations in forkhead box P3 (FOXP3), which lead to the loss of function of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and the development of autoimmune manifestations early in life. The selective induction of a Treg program in autologous CD4+ T cells by FOXP3 gene transfer is a promising approach for curing IPEX. We have established a novel in vivo assay of Treg functionality, based on adoptive transfer of these cells into scurfy mice (an animal model of IPEX) and a combination of cyclophosphamide (Cy) conditioning and interleukin-2 (IL-2) treatment. This model highlighted the possibility of rescuing scurfy disease after the latter's onset. By using this in vivo model and an optimized lentiviral vector expressing human Foxp3 and, as a reporter, a truncated form of the low-affinity nerve growth factor receptor (ΔLNGFR), we demonstrated that the adoptive transfer of FOXP3-transduced scurfy CD4+ T cells enabled the long-term rescue of scurfy autoimmune disease. The efficiency was similar to that seen with wild-type Tregs. After in vivo expansion, the converted CD4FOXP3 cells recapitulated the transcriptomic core signature for Tregs. These findings demonstrate that FOXP3 expression converts CD4+ T cells into functional Tregs capable of controlling severe autoimmune disease.


Subject(s)
Autoimmune Diseases/prevention & control , CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes/immunology , Cyclophosphamide/pharmacology , Forkhead Transcription Factors/genetics , Genetic Diseases, X-Linked/prevention & control , Interleukin-2/pharmacology , T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory/immunology , Animals , Antineoplastic Agents/pharmacology , Autoimmune Diseases/immunology , Autoimmune Diseases/pathology , CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes/drug effects , Disease Models, Animal , Drug Therapy, Combination , Female , Genetic Diseases, X-Linked/immunology , Genetic Diseases, X-Linked/pathology , Immunosuppressive Agents/pharmacology , Male , Mice , Mice, Inbred C57BL , T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory/drug effects
13.
Blood Adv ; 5(3): 700-710, 2021 02 09.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33560378

ABSTRACT

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) represents the malignant expansion of immature T cells blocked in their differentiation. T-ALL is still associated with a poor prognosis, mainly related to occurrence of relapse or refractory disease. A critical medical need therefore exists for new therapies to improve the disease prognosis. Adenylate kinase 2 (AK2) is a mitochondrial kinase involved in adenine nucleotide homeostasis recently reported as essential in normal T-cell development, as defective AK2 signaling pathway results in a severe combined immunodeficiency with a complete absence of T-cell differentiation. In this study, we show that AK2 is constitutively expressed in T-ALL to varying levels, irrespective of the stage of maturation arrest or the underlying oncogenetic features. T-ALL cell lines and patient T-ALL-derived xenografts present addiction to AK2, whereas B-cell precursor ALL cells do not. Indeed, AK2 knockdown leads to early and massive apoptosis of T-ALL cells that could not be rescued by the cytosolic isoform AK1. Mechanistically, AK2 depletion results in mitochondrial dysfunction marked by early mitochondrial depolarization and reactive oxygen species production, together with the depletion of antiapoptotic molecules (BCL-2 and BCL-XL). Finally, T-ALL exposure to a BCL-2 inhibitor (ABT-199 [venetoclax]) significantly enhances the cytotoxic effects of AK2 depletion. We also show that AK2 depletion disrupts the oxidative phosphorylation pathway. Combined with pharmaceutical inhibition of glycolysis, AK2 silencing prevents T-ALL metabolic adaptation, resulting in dramatic apoptosis. Altogether, we pinpoint AK2 as a genuine and promising therapeutic target in T-ALL.


Subject(s)
Precursor T-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma , Severe Combined Immunodeficiency , Adenylate Kinase , Humans , Mitochondria , Precursor T-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma/genetics
14.
Blood ; 135(15): 1219-1231, 2020 04 09.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-32040546

ABSTRACT

In gene therapy with human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs), each gene-corrected cell and its progeny are marked in a unique way by the integrating vector. This feature enables lineages to be tracked by sampling blood cells and using DNA sequencing to identify the vector integration sites. Here, we studied 5 cell lineages (granulocytes, monocytes, T cells, B cells, and natural killer cells) in patients having undergone HSPC gene therapy for Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome or ß hemoglobinopathies. We found that the estimated minimum number of active, repopulating HSPCs (which ranged from 2000 to 50 000) was correlated with the number of HSPCs per kilogram infused. We sought to quantify the lineage output and dynamics of gene-modified clones; this is usually challenging because of sparse sampling of the various cell types during the analytical procedure, contamination during cell isolation, and different levels of vector marking in the various lineages. We therefore measured the residual contamination and corrected our statistical models accordingly to provide a rigorous analysis of the HSPC lineage output. A cluster analysis of the HSPC lineage output highlighted the existence of several stable, distinct differentiation programs, including myeloid-dominant, lymphoid-dominant, and balanced cell subsets. Our study evidenced the heterogeneous nature of the cell lineage output from HSPCs and provided methods for analyzing these complex data.


Subject(s)
Clone Cells/cytology , Genetic Therapy , Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation , Hematopoietic Stem Cells/cytology , Hemoglobinopathies/therapy , Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome/therapy , Cell Differentiation , Cell Tracking , Clone Cells/metabolism , Gene Transfer Techniques , Genetic Therapy/methods , Genetic Vectors/genetics , Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation/methods , Hematopoietic Stem Cells/metabolism , Hemoglobinopathies/genetics , Humans , Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome/genetics
15.
Haematologica ; 105(5): 1240-1247, 2020 05.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-31537695

ABSTRACT

Although studies of mixed chimerism following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) may provide insights into the engraftment needed to correct the disease and into immunological reconstitution, an extensive multilineage analysis is lacking. We analyzed chimerism simultaneously in peripheral erythroid and granulomonocytic precursors/progenitors, highly purified B and T lymphocytes, monocytes, granulocytes and red blood cells (RBC). Thirty-four patients with mixed chimerism and ≥12 months of follow-up were included. A selective advantage of donor RBC and their progenitors/precursors led to full chimerism in mature RBC (despite partial engraftment of other lineages), and resulted in the clinical control of the disease. Six patients with donor chimerism <50% had hemolysis (reticulocytosis) and higher HbS than their donor. Four of them had donor chimerism <30%, including a patient with AA donor (hemoglobin >10 g/dL) and three with AS donors (hemoglobin <10 g/dL). However, only one vaso-occlusive crisis occurred with 68.7% HbS. Except in the patients with the lowest chimerism, the donor engraftment was lower for T cells than for the other lineages. In a context of mixed chimerism after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for SCD, myeloid (rather than T cell) engraftment was the key efficacy criterion. Results show that myeloid chimerism as low as 30% was sufficient to prevent a vaso-occlusive crisis in transplants from an AA donor but not constantly from an AS donor. However, the correction of hemolysis requires higher donor chimerism levels (i.e ≥50%) in both AA and AS recipients. In the future, this group of patients may need a different therapeutic approach.


Subject(s)
Anemia, Sickle Cell , Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation , Anemia, Sickle Cell/therapy , Chimerism , Genetic Therapy , Hematopoiesis , Humans , Transplantation Chimera , Transplantation, Homologous
16.
Nat Rev Drug Discov ; 18(6): 447-462, 2019 06.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30858502

ABSTRACT

Pioneering gene therapy trials have shown that the genetic engineering of haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells can be an alternative to allogeneic transplantation in the treatment of primary immunodeficiencies. Early trials also highlighted the risk of insertional mutagenesis and oncogene transactivation associated with the first generation of gammaretroviral vectors. These events prompted the development of safer, self-inactivating lentiviral or gammaretroviral vectors. These lentiviral vectors have been successfully used to treat over 200 patients with 10 different haematological disorders (including primary immunodeficiencies, haemoglobinopathies and metabolic disorders) and for the generation of chimeric antigen receptor-T cells for cancer therapy. However, several challenges, such as effective reconstitution during inflammation, remain if gene therapy is to be extended to more complex diseases in which haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells can be altered by the disease environment. We discuss the progress made and future challenges for gene therapy and contrast gene therapy with gene-editing strategies.


Subject(s)
Anemia, Sickle Cell/therapy , Genetic Therapy/methods , Genetic Vectors/administration & dosage , Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation , Hematopoietic Stem Cells/cytology , Severe Combined Immunodeficiency/therapy , beta-Thalassemia/therapy , Anemia, Sickle Cell/genetics , Animals , Genetic Engineering , Humans , Severe Combined Immunodeficiency/genetics , beta-Thalassemia/genetics
17.
Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev ; 10: 341-347, 2018 Sep 21.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30191160

ABSTRACT

Lentiviral vectors have emerged as an efficient, safe therapeutic tool for gene therapy based on hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) or T cells. However, the monitoring of transduced cells in preclinical models remains challenging because of the inefficient transduction of murine primary T cells with lentiviral vectors, in contrast to gammaretroviral vectors. The use of this later in preclinical proof of concept is not considered as relevant when a lentiviral vector will be used in a clinical trial. Hence, there is an urgent need to develop an efficient transduction protocol for murine cells with lentiviral vectors. Here, we describe an optimized protocol in which a nontoxic transduction enhancer (Lentiboost) enables the efficient transduction of primary murine T cells with lentiviral vectors. The optimized protocol combines low toxicity and high transduction efficiency. We achieved a high-level transduction of murine CD4+ and CD8+ T cells with a VSV-G-pseudotyped lentiviral vector with no changes in the phenotypes of transduced T cells, which were stable and long-lived in culture. This enhancer also increased the transduction of murine HSCs. Hence, use of this new transduction enhancer overcomes the limitations of lentiviral vectors in preclinical experiments and should facilitate the translation of strategies based on lentiviral vectors from the bench to the clinic.

18.
Genome Med ; 10(1): 70, 2018 09 28.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30261899

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Mutation of the IL2RG gene results in a form of severe combined immune deficiency (SCID-X1), which has been treated successfully with hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy. SCID-X1 gene therapy results in reconstitution of the previously lacking T cell compartment, allowing analysis of the roles of T cell immunity in humans by comparing before and after gene correction. METHODS: Here we interrogate T cell reconstitution using four forms of high throughput analysis. (1) Estimation of the numbers of transduced progenitor cells by monitoring unique positions of integration of the therapeutic gene transfer vector. (2) Estimation of T cell population structure by sequencing of the recombined T cell receptor (TCR) beta locus. (3) Metagenomic analysis of microbial populations in oropharyngeal, nasopharyngeal, and gut samples. (4) Metagenomic analysis of viral populations in gut samples. RESULTS: Comparison of progenitor and mature T cell populations allowed estimation of a minimum number of cell divisions needed to generate the observed populations. Analysis of microbial populations showed the effects of immune reconstitution, including normalization of gut microbiota and clearance of viral infections. Metagenomic analysis revealed enrichment of genes for antibiotic resistance in gene-corrected subjects relative to healthy controls, likely a result of higher healthcare exposure. CONCLUSIONS: This multi-omic approach enables the characterization of multiple effects of SCID-X1 gene therapy, including T cell repertoire reconstitution, estimation of numbers of cell divisions between progenitors and daughter T cells, normalization of the microbiome, clearance of microbial pathogens, and modulations in antibiotic resistance gene levels. Together, these results quantify several aspects of the long-term efficacy of gene therapy for SCID-X1. This study includes data from ClinicalTrials.gov numbers NCT01410019, NCT01175239, and NCT01129544.


Subject(s)
Genetic Therapy , Microbiota , T-Lymphocytes/immunology , X-Linked Combined Immunodeficiency Diseases/immunology , X-Linked Combined Immunodeficiency Diseases/therapy , Cell Division , Child, Preschool , Complementarity Determining Regions/genetics , Humans , Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta/metabolism , X-Linked Combined Immunodeficiency Diseases/microbiology , X-Linked Combined Immunodeficiency Diseases/virology
19.
Nat Immunol ; 19(1): 85-97, 2018 Jan.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-29167569

ABSTRACT

The hierarchy of human hemopoietic progenitor cells that produce lymphoid and granulocytic-monocytic (myeloid) lineages is unclear. Multiple progenitor populations produce lymphoid and myeloid cells, but they remain incompletely characterized. Here we demonstrated that lympho-myeloid progenitor populations in cord blood - lymphoid-primed multi-potential progenitors (LMPPs), granulocyte-macrophage progenitors (GMPs) and multi-lymphoid progenitors (MLPs) - were functionally and transcriptionally distinct and heterogeneous at the clonal level, with progenitors of many different functional potentials present. Although most progenitors had the potential to develop into only one mature cell type ('uni-lineage potential'), bi- and rarer multi-lineage progenitors were present among LMPPs, GMPs and MLPs. Those findings, coupled with single-cell expression analyses, suggest that a continuum of progenitors execute lymphoid and myeloid differentiation, rather than only uni-lineage progenitors' being present downstream of stem cells.


Subject(s)
Cell Differentiation/genetics , Gene Expression Profiling/methods , Lymphoid Progenitor Cells/metabolism , Myeloid Progenitor Cells/metabolism , Single-Cell Analysis/methods , Animals , Cell Lineage/genetics , Cell Separation/methods , Cells, Cultured , Hematopoiesis/genetics , Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation/methods , Humans , Mice , Transplantation, Heterologous
20.
Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev ; 4: 17-26, 2017 Mar 17.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-28344988

ABSTRACT

Analysis of sites of newly integrated DNA in cellular genomes is important to several fields, but methods for analyzing and visualizing these datasets are still under development. Here, we describe tools for data analysis and visualization that take as input integration site data from our INSPIIRED pipeline. Paired-end sequencing allows inference of the numbers of transduced cells as well as the distributions of integration sites in target genomes. We present interactive heatmaps that allow comparison of distributions of integration sites to genomic features and that support numerous user-defined statistical tests. To summarize integration site data from human gene therapy samples, we developed a reproducible report format that catalogs sample population structure, longitudinal dynamics, and integration frequency near cancer-associated genes. We also introduce a novel summary statistic, the UC50 (unique cell progenitors contributing the most expanded 50% of progeny cell clones), which provides a single number summarizing possible clonal expansion. Using these tools, we characterize ongoing longitudinal characterization of a patient from the first trial to treat severe combined immunodeficiency-X1 (SCID-X1), showing successful reconstitution for 15 years accompanied by persistence of a cell clone with an integration site near the cancer-associated gene CCND2. Software is available at https://github.com/BushmanLab/INSPIIRED.

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