Molecular Chimerism Therapy for Hemophilia A

描述(申请人提供)：血友病A是一种X连锁隐性遗传性出血性疾病，由凝血因子VIII(FVIII)缺乏或功能缺陷引起。目前还没有治愈血友病A的方法，患者在出血时接受FVIII浓缩或重组蛋白的输注。虽然这种治疗方案显著延长了血友病患者的预期寿命，但它不方便，而且有潜在的严重并发症，如发展对FVIII的抑制性抗体，这在大约25%的患者中发生，使他们难以进一步治疗。本研究的目的是评价携带针对造血干细胞(HSCs)的人FVIII转基因基因的逆转录病毒载体在小鼠血友病A模型中的疗效。造血干细胞是血友病A基因治疗的一个有吸引力的靶细胞群，因为它们易于进行体外基因修饰，并允许FVIII转基因在受者一生中在循环外周血细胞中持续表达。此外，靶向HSCs的一个潜在好处是有可能诱导对FVIII转基因产物的免疫耐受。近二十年来，我们的实验室一直在设计和优化逆转录病毒载体，用于HSC生物学的基因转移研究和基因治疗模拟。特别是，我们的MSCV(小鼠干细胞病毒)逆转录病毒载体目前正在美国进行的几项HSC基因治疗试验中使用。然而，在法国一项针对X连锁严重联合免疫缺陷病的临床试验中出现的不良事件要求重新评估逆转录病毒诱导突变的风险。因此，在我们最近通过MSCV-HSC定向基因传递获得临床相关的FVIII血浆水平的基础上，我们的具体目标是：(1)进一步优化FVIII转基因序列，以便更有效地在造血细胞中分泌FVIII，并降低蛋白质的免疫原性；(2)开发非清髓性HSC移植调节方案，使足够水平的转基因分子嵌合用于长期治疗性FVIII的生产和耐受诱导；以及(3)创建生物安全的FVIII逆转录病毒载体-其长末端重复序列中不存在转录调控元件，两侧显示增强子/启动子阻断元件，从而降低HSC的基因毒性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Hemophilia A is an X-linked recessive genetic bleeding disorder caused by a deficiency or functional defect in coagulation factor VIII (FVIII). There is currently no cure for hemophilia A and patients receive infusion of FVIII concentrates or recombinant proteins at the time of bleeding. Although this treatment regimen has increased the life expectancy of hemophiliacs significantly, it is inconvenient and has potentially serious complications such as the development of inhibitory antibodies to FVIII, which occurs in approximately 25% of patients, rendering them refractory to further treatment. The objective of this research is to evaluate the curative efficacy of retroviral vectors encoding modified human FVIII transgenes targeted to hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in a murine hemophilia A model. HSCs are an attractive target cell population for hemophilia A gene therapy because they are readily accessible for ex vivo genetic modification and allow for the possibility of sustained expression of a FVIII transgene in circulating peripheral blood cells for the recipient's lifetime. Moreover, a potential benefit of targeting HSCs is the possibility of inducing immunological tolerance to the FVIII transgene product. For almost two decades, our laboratory has been designing and optimizing retroviral vectors for gene transfer studies of HSC biology and gene therapy modeling. In particular, our MSCV (murine stem cell virus) retroviral vector is in use in several HSC gene therapy trials currently underway in the United States. However, the emergence of adverse events in a French clinical trial for X- linked severe combined immunodeficiency disease demands a reevaluation of the risks of retroviral-induced mutagenesis. Therefore, building upon our recent success at achieving clinically-relevant FVIII plasma levels in hemophilia A mice by MSCV-based HSC-directed gene delivery, our Specific Aims are: (1) To further optimize FVIII transgene sequences for more efficient secretion in hematopoietic cells and decreased immunogenicity of the protein; (2) To develop nonmyeloablative HSC transplant conditioning regimens that allow sufficient levels of transgene molecular chimerism for long-term therapeutic FVIII production and tolerance induction; and (3) To create biologically safer FVIII retroviral vectors - devoid of transcriptional regulatory elements within their long terminal repeats and flanked by enhancer/promoter-blocking elements - displaying reduced HSC genotoxicity.