Correction of murine hemophilia A by hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy

Mol Ther. 2005 Dec;12(6):1034-42. doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2005.09.007. Epub 2005 Oct 12.

Abstract

A serious complication of current protein replacement therapy for hemophilia A patients with coagulation factor VIII (FVIII) deficiency is the frequent development of anti-FVIII inhibitor antibodies that preclude therapeutic benefit from further treatment. Induction of tolerance by persistent high-level FVIII synthesis following transplantation with hematopoietic stem cells expressing a retrovirally delivered FVIII transgene offers the possibility of permanently correcting the disease. Here, we transplanted bone marrow cells transduced with an optimized MSCV-based FVIII oncoretroviral vector into immunocompetent hemophilia A mice that had been conditioned with a potentially lethal dose of irradiation (800 cGy), a sublethal dose of irradiation (550 cGy), or a nonmyeloablative preparative regimen involving busulfan. Therapeutic levels of FVIII (42, 18, and 11% of normal, respectively) were detected in the plasma of the transplant recipients for the duration of the study (over 6 months). Moreover, subsequent challenge with recombinant FVIII elicited at most a minor anti-FVIII inhibitor antibody response in any of the experimental animals, in contrast to the vigorous neutralizing humoral reaction to FVIII that was stimulated in naive hemophilia A mice. These findings represent an encouraging advance toward potential clinical application and long-term amelioration or cure of this progressively debilitating, life-threatening bleeding disorder.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Blotting, Northern
  • Blotting, Southern
  • Blotting, Western
  • Bone Marrow Cells / cytology
  • Bone Marrow Cells / metabolism
  • Bone Marrow Transplantation
  • Busulfan / pharmacology
  • Cell Lineage
  • Culture Media, Conditioned / pharmacology
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • Exons
  • Factor VIII / genetics
  • Gene Transfer Techniques
  • Genetic Therapy / methods*
  • Genetic Vectors
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins / metabolism
  • Hematopoietic Stem Cells / cytology*
  • Hematopoietic Stem Cells / metabolism
  • Hemophilia A / therapy*
  • Immunophenotyping
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Phenotype
  • Time Factors
  • Transgenes

Substances

  • Culture Media, Conditioned
  • enhanced green fluorescent protein
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins
  • Factor VIII
  • Busulfan