Gene therapy for Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome: rescue of T-cell signaling and amelioration of colitis upon transplantation of retrovirally transduced hematopoietic stem cells in mice

Klein, Christoph; Nguyen, Deanna D.; Liu, Ching-Hui; Mizoguchi, Atsushi; Bhan, Atul K.; Miki, Hiroaki; Takenawa, Tadaomi; Rosen, Fred S.; Alt, F W; Mulligan, Richard C.; Snapper, Scott B.

doi:10.1182/blood-2002-05-1423

Cited by 105 publications

(87 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(51 reference statements)

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“…The improvement in autoimmune colitis has also been obtained following transplantation of retrovirally transduced BM cells utilizing a strong viral LTR promoter to express the WAS transgene. 24 Altogether these results suggest that a strong promoter system does not appear to be essential to express the WAS transgene to obtain significant therapeutic benefit. Besides the improvement of the colitis, we also report that the WAS LV can increase the thymopoiesis in BM-reconstituted mice.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Validation of a mutated PRE sequence allowing high and sustained transgene expression while abrogating WHV-X protein synthesis: application to the gene therapy of WAS

et al. 2009

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The woodchuck hepatitis virus posttranscriptional regulatory element (WPRE) is widely used in retroviral gene transfer vectors. However, this element contains an open-reading frame (ORF) encoding a truncated peptide of the woodchuck hepatitis virus X protein (WHX). Because we are developing a lentiviral vector for the gene therapy of Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS), we evaluated whether the WPRE was needed in the gene transfer cassette and tested the possibility of replacing it with a mutated derivative. The transcriptional activity of the WPRE was undetectable in the context of the lentiviral vector but the element was capable of translating a polypeptide. This capability was abrogated by mutating the WHX ORF translation start. The WPRE was required to express high levels of the transgene and for that, the native form or mutated derivatives functioned equivalently. The vector using a WAS gene promoter and the mut6 WPRE induced long-term expression of the WAS transgene in vivo, correcting cytoskeletal defects, thymocyte and B-cell numbers and improved the colitis of WAS-null mice. By providing additional evidence of efficacy of this WAS lentiviral vector with improved safety features, our results validate a mutated WPRE, which should be useful in future gene therapy applications.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Validation of a mutated PRE sequence allowing high and sustained transgene expression while abrogating WHV-X protein synthesis: application to the gene therapy of WAS

et al. 2009

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“…Of 13 survivors of MUD transplants, 10 (76.9%) have excellent clinical outcome with no signs attributable to WAS, including three with previous autoimmune disease (no. 10,19,20). In contrast, both patients treated by MMRD BMT died early after transplant.…”

Section: Lymphoid Reconstitution and Functionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…This may also impact on future therapeutic strategies for WAS such as gene therapy. A number of investigators have pursued gene replacement as an alternative strategy for WAS using mouse models [20][21][22][23][24] or by transducing human T cells. [25][26][27] However, given that the animal model fails to fully recapitulate the platelet defects seen in humans, 28 the direct relevance of these approaches to correction of human WAS…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stem cell transplantation for the Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome: a single-center experience confirms efficacy of matched unrelated donor transplantation

DeMartiis

Forino

et al. 2006

Bone Marrow Transplant

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The treatment of Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS), a once uniformly fatal disorder, has evolved considerably as the use of hematopoietic stem cell transplant has become more widespread. For the majority of patients who lack an human leukocyte antigen-identical sibling, closely matched unrelated donor bone marrow transplant (MUD BMT) at an early age is an excellent option that nevertheless is not uniformly chosen. We retrospectively analyzed our experience with transplantation in 23 patients with WAS from 1990 to 2005 at the University of Brescia, Italy, of whom 16 received MUD BMT. Myeloablative chemotherapy was well tolerated with median neutrophil engraftment at day 18, and no cases of grade III or IV graft-vs-host disease. Overall survival was very good with 78.2% (18/23) of the whole cohort and 81.2% (13/16) of MUD BMT recipients surviving. Among 18 survivors, full donor engraftment was detected in 12 patients, and stable mixed chimerism in all blood lineages in four patients. Deaths were limited to patients who had received mismatched related BMT or who had severe clinical symptomatology at the time of transplantation, further emphasizing the safety and efficacy of MUD BMT when performed early in the clinical course of WAS.

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“…In particular, N-WASP, which shares 50% homology with WASP, may serve specific and redundant function with WASP in hematopoietic cells. In fact, we have shown that expression of N-WASP in WASP-deficient T cells partly restores CD3-mediated proliferation, implying that WASP and N-WASP might share functions in T cells (25).…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome protein (WASP) and N-WASP are critical for T cell development

Cotta-de-Almeida

Westerberg

Maillard

et al. 2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

100

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cytoskeleton ͉ thymus ͉ migration ͉ colitis ͉ knockout mice L ymphoid progenitors enter the thymus to initiate a complex differentiation process resulting in maturation of T cells (1, 2). The well characterized maturation steps of ␣␤ T cells in the thymus are also governed by trafficking events and positional cues driven by guidance molecules, including chemokines, adhesion molecules, and extracellular matrix components (3-6). Rearrangement of the actin cytoskeleton is regulated during both T cell receptor signaling and T cell migration (7-9), but much less is known about its requirement during T cell development. The small Rho-family GTPases and their guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs), proteins known to regulate the actin cytoskeleton, are clearly required during thymocyte development (10-12). Although these molecules are also known to regulate cell adhesion and migration, their involvement in thymocyte trafficking has not been thoroughly assessed. The small GTPase effector molecule Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASP) has also been demonstrated to be a critical regulator of antigen receptor signaling, actin cytoskeletal rearrangements, and lymphocyte migration (13-22). Although WASP deficiency has been correlated with lower numbers of naïve T cells (23), WASP does not seem to play a critical role in T cell development. Moreover, despite a large body of evidence showing a role for WASP in T cell signaling, its role in thymocyte migration has not been studied. WASP belongs to the WASP family of proteins, including WASP, N-WASP, and WAVE/SCAR molecules 1-3 (24). In particular, N-WASP, which shares 50% homology with WASP, may serve specific and redundant function with WASP in hematopoietic cells. In fact, we have shown that expression of N-WASP in WASP-deficient T cells partly restores CD3-mediated proliferation, implying that WASP and N-WASP might share functions in T cells (25).Here we sought to explore the importance of cytoskeletal regulation for thymocyte development by examining the unique and redundant roles of WASP and N-WASP. Using two complementary approaches, we analyzed T cells devoid of WASP and N-WASP and demonstrated that thymopoiesis cannot proceed in the absence of WASP and N-WASP. Results Deletion of WASP and N-WASP in Lymphocytes Using the RAG-2-Deficient Complementation System Leads to a Block in T Cell Development.We have demonstrated that lymphoid development is normal in WASP knockout (WKO) mice (20). We hypothesized that N-WASP might have some overlapping functions with WASP during lymphopoiesis and sought to investigate the unique and redundant activities for WASP and N-WASP in T cell development and function. To circumvent the embryonic lethality of N-WASP germ-line inactivation in mice (26), we used the RAG2-deficient blastocyst complementation system (27). Blastocysts from RAG-2-deficient mice implanted into foster mothers generate animals that fail to rearrange antigen receptor genes and consequently lack mature B and T cells. Injection of gene-targeted ES cells into RAG-2-...

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Gene therapy for Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome: rescue of T-cell signaling and amelioration of colitis upon transplantation of retrovirally transduced hematopoietic stem cells in mice

Cited by 105 publications

References 40 publications

Validation of a mutated PRE sequence allowing high and sustained transgene expression while abrogating WHV-X protein synthesis: application to the gene therapy of WAS

Validation of a mutated PRE sequence allowing high and sustained transgene expression while abrogating WHV-X protein synthesis: application to the gene therapy of WAS

Stem cell transplantation for the Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome: a single-center experience confirms efficacy of matched unrelated donor transplantation

Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome protein (WASP) and N-WASP are critical for T cell development

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