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Novel bicistronic lentiviral vectors correct β-Hexosaminidase deficiency in neural and hematopoietic stem cells and progeny: implications for in vivo and ex vivo gene therapy of GM2 gangliosidosis. Neurobiol Dis 2019; 134:104667. [PMID: 31682993 DOI: 10.1016/j.nbd.2019.104667] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2019] [Revised: 10/28/2019] [Accepted: 10/31/2019] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
The favorable outcome of in vivo and ex vivo gene therapy approaches in several Lysosomal Storage Diseases suggests that these treatment strategies might equally benefit GM2 gangliosidosis. Tay-Sachs and Sandhoff disease (the main forms of GM2 gangliosidosis) result from mutations in either the HEXA or HEXB genes encoding, respectively, the α- or β-subunits of the lysosomal β-Hexosaminidase enzyme. In physiological conditions, α- and β-subunits combine to generate β-Hexosaminidase A (HexA, αβ) and β-Hexosaminidase B (HexB, ββ). A major impairment to establishing in vivo or ex vivo gene therapy for GM2 gangliosidosis is the need to synthesize the α- and β-subunits at high levels and with the correct stoichiometric ratio, and to safely deliver the therapeutic products to all affected tissues/organs. Here, we report the generation and in vitro validation of novel bicistronic lentiviral vectors (LVs) encoding for both the murine and human codon optimized Hexa and Hexb genes. We show that these LVs drive the safe and coordinate expression of the α- and β-subunits, leading to supranormal levels of β-Hexosaminidase activity with prevalent formation of a functional HexA in SD murine neurons and glia, murine bone marrow-derived hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs), and human SD fibroblasts. The restoration/overexpression of β-Hexosaminidase leads to the reduction of intracellular GM2 ganglioside storage in transduced and in cross-corrected SD murine neural progeny, indicating that the transgenic enzyme is secreted and functional. Importantly, bicistronic LVs safely and efficiently transduce human neurons/glia and CD34+ HSPCs, which are target and effector cells, respectively, in prospective in vivo and ex vivo GT approaches. We anticipate that these bicistronic LVs may overcome the current requirement of two vectors co-delivering the α- or β-subunits genes. Careful assessment of the safety and therapeutic potential of these bicistronic LVs in the SD murine model will pave the way to the clinical development of LV-based gene therapy for GM2 gangliosidosis.
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Gori JL, Butler JM, Kunar B, Poulos MG, Ginsberg M, Nolan DJ, Norgaard ZK, Adair JE, Rafii S, Kiem H. Endothelial Cells Promote Expansion of Long-Term Engrafting Marrow Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells in Primates. Stem Cells Transl Med 2016; 6:864-876. [PMID: 28297579 PMCID: PMC5442761 DOI: 10.5966/sctm.2016-0240] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2016] [Accepted: 09/01/2016] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Successful expansion of bone marrow (BM) hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) would benefit many HSPC transplantation and gene therapy/editing applications. However, current expansion technologies have been limited by a loss of multipotency and self-renewal properties ex vivo. We hypothesized that an ex vivo vascular niche would provide prohematopoietic signals to expand HSPCs while maintaining multipotency and self-renewal. To test this hypothesis, BM autologous CD34+ cells were expanded in endothelial cell (EC) coculture and transplanted in nonhuman primates. CD34+ C38- HSPCs cocultured with ECs expanded up to 17-fold, with a significant increase in hematopoietic colony-forming activity compared with cells cultured with cytokines alone (colony-forming unit-granulocyte-erythroid-macrophage-monocyte; p < .005). BM CD34+ cells that were transduced with green fluorescent protein lentivirus vector and expanded on ECs engrafted long term with multilineage polyclonal reconstitution. Gene marking was observed in granulocytes, lymphocytes, platelets, and erythrocytes. Whole transcriptome analysis indicated that EC coculture altered the expression profile of 75 genes in the BM CD34+ cells without impeding the long-term engraftment potential. These findings show that an ex vivo vascular niche is an effective platform for expansion of adult BM HSPCs. Stem Cells Translational Medicine 2017;6:864-876.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer L. Gori
- Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Jason M. Butler
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, Maryland, USA
- Ansary Stem Cell Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, USA
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, USA
- Department of Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, USA
| | - Balvir Kunar
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, Maryland, USA
- Ansary Stem Cell Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, USA
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, USA
- Department of Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, USA
- Department of Physiology, Biophysics, and Systems Biology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, USA
| | - Michael G. Poulos
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, Maryland, USA
- Ansary Stem Cell Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, USA
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, USA
- Department of Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, USA
| | | | | | - Zachary K. Norgaard
- Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Jennifer E. Adair
- Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Shahin Rafii
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, Maryland, USA
- Ansary Stem Cell Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, USA
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, USA
| | - Hans‐Peter Kiem
- Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
- Department of Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
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Fournier M, Lebert-Ghali CÉ, Bijl JJ. HOXA4 provides stronger engraftment potential to short-term repopulating cells than HOXB4. Stem Cells Dev 2015; 24:2413-22. [PMID: 26166023 DOI: 10.1089/scd.2015.0063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Genes of the HOX4 paralog group have been shown to expand hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Endogenous expression of HOXA4 is 10-fold higher than HOXB4 in embryonic primitive hematopoietic cells undergoing self-renewal suggesting a more potent capacity of HOXA4 to expand HSC. In this study, we provide evidence by direct competitive bone marrow cultures that HOXA4 and HOXB4 induce self-renewal of primitive hematopoietic cells with identical kinetics. Transplantation assays show that short-term repopulation by HOXA4-overexpressing multilineage progenitors was significantly greater than HOXB4-overexpressing progenitors in vivo, indicating differences in the sensitivity of the cells to external signals. Small array gene expression analysis showed an increase in multiple Notch and Wnt signaling -associated genes, including receptors and ligands, as well as pluripotency genes, for both HOXA4- and HOXB4-overexpressing cells, which was more pronounced for HOXA4, suggesting that both HOX proteins may assert their affects through intrinsic and extrinsic pathways to induce self-renewal of primitive hematopoietic cells. Thus, HOXA4 increases short-term repopulation to higher levels than HOXB4, which may involve Notch signaling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marilaine Fournier
- 1 Centre de Recherche de l'Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont , Montréal, Québec, Canada .,2 Départment de Microbiologie et Immunologie et, Université de Montréal , Montréal, Québec, Canada
| | - Charles-Étienne Lebert-Ghali
- 1 Centre de Recherche de l'Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont , Montréal, Québec, Canada .,2 Départment de Microbiologie et Immunologie et, Université de Montréal , Montréal, Québec, Canada
| | - Janetta J Bijl
- 1 Centre de Recherche de l'Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont , Montréal, Québec, Canada .,3 Départment de Médecine, Université de Montréal , Montréal, Québec, Canada
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Gullo F, van der Garde M, Russo G, Pennisi M, Motta S, Pappalardo F, Watt S. Computational modeling of the expansion of human cord blood CD133+ hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells with different cytokine combinations. Bioinformatics 2015; 31:2514-22. [PMID: 25810433 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btv172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2015] [Accepted: 03/18/2015] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
MOTIVATION Many important problems in cell biology require dense non-linear interactions between functional modules to be considered. The importance of computer simulation in understanding cellular processes is now widely accepted, and a variety of simulation algorithms useful for studying certain subsystems have been designed. Expansion of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSC/HPC) in ex vivo culture with cytokines and small molecules is a method to increase the restricted numbers of stem cells found in umbilical cord blood (CB), while also enhancing the content of early engrafting neutrophil and platelet precursors. The efficacy of the expanded product depends on the composition of the cocktail of cytokines and small molecules used for culture. Testing the influence of a cytokine or small molecule on the expansion of HSC/HPC is a laborious and expensive process. We therefore developed a computational model based on cellular signaling interactions that predict the influence of a cytokine on the survival, duplication and differentiation of the CD133(+) HSC/HPC subset from human umbilical CB. RESULTS We have used results from in vitro expansion cultures with different combinations of one or more cytokines to develop an ordinary differential equation model that includes the effect of cytokines on survival, duplication and differentiation of the CD133(+) HSC/HPC. Comparing the results of in vitro and in silico experiments, we show that the model can predict the effect of a cytokine on the fold expansion and differentiation of CB CD133(+) HSC/HPC after 8-day culture on a 3D scaffold. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Gullo
- Stem Cell Research, Nuffield Division of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK, NHS Blood and Transplant Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Mark van der Garde
- Stem Cell Research, Nuffield Division of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK, NHS Blood and Transplant Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | | | - Marzio Pennisi
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy
| | - Santo Motta
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy
| | | | - Suzanne Watt
- Stem Cell Research, Nuffield Division of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK, NHS Blood and Transplant Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
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