Crivello P, Ahci M, Maaßen F, Wossidlo N, Arrieta-Bolaños E, Heinold A, Lange V, Falkenburg JHF, Horn PA, Fleischhauer K, Heinrichs S. Multiple Knockout of Classical HLA Class II β-Chains by CRISPR/Cas9 Genome Editing Driven by a Single Guide RNA.
J Immunol 2019;
202:1895-1903. [PMID:
30700588 DOI:
10.4049/jimmunol.1800257]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2018] [Accepted: 12/11/2018] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Comprehensive knockout of HLA class II (HLA-II) β-chain genes is complicated by their high polymorphism. In this study, we developed CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing to simultaneously target HLA-DRB, -DQB1, and -DPB1 through a single guide RNA recognizing a conserved region in exon 2. Abrogation of HLA-II surface expression was achieved in five different HLA-typed, human EBV-transformed B lymphoblastoid cell lines (BLCLs). Next-generation sequencing-based detection confirmed specific genomic insertion/deletion mutations with 99.5% penetrance in sorted cells for all three loci. No alterations were observed in HLA-I genes, the HLA-II peptide editor HLA-DMB, or its antagonist HLA-DOB, showing high on-target specificity. Transfection of full-length HLA-DPB1 mRNA into knockout BLCLs fully restored HLA-DP surface expression and recognition by alloreactive human CD4 T cells. The possibility to generate single HLA-II-expressing BLCLs by one-shot genome editing opens unprecedented opportunities for mechanistically dissecting the interaction of individual HLA variants with the immune system.
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