iPSC-based blood regenerative therapies for AIDS

描述（由申请人提供）：HSC移植已成为治疗其他不可治愈的血癌和遗传疾病的标准护理。通过移植来自具有CCR 5-D32突变的HIV耐药患者的HSC来治愈HIV和白血病，已经证明了基于干细胞的艾滋病疗法的力量。然而，自体HSC的遗传修饰和寻找HLA相容的CCR 5-D32供体的困难显著阻碍了基于体细胞HSC的AIDS疗法在临床环境中的广泛使用。将成人细胞转化为诱导多能干细胞（iPSC）提供了一个独特的机会，可以产生用于血液和免疫系统疾病的免疫匹配的基因编辑治疗细胞，因为iPSC可以无限地离体扩增，使用同源重组进行遗传修饰并分化为造血细胞。然而，将这种方法转移到临床需要改进iPSC衍生的血细胞植入，开发用于从iPSC产生血液的稳健的cGMP相容方案，以及双等位基因CCR 5破坏以提供抗HIV作用。拟议的研究利用了我们最近在鉴定人ESC/iPSC培养物中的前HSC造血内皮（HE）阶段方面的进展以及使用ZNF介导的同源重组在ESC/iPSC中进行基因座特异性基因编辑的进展。这三个相关的具体目的是为了理解控制HSC从人PSC发育到HE阶段的分子机制，最终目标是开发用于AIDS疗法的CCR 5敲除自体HSC的离体产生的临床相关方案。在目标1中，我们将鉴定指导从HE形成可移植造血细胞的生物调节剂，目的是改善从人PSC产生具有再生潜力的血细胞。在目标2中，我们将开发基于同源重组的技术用于iPSC中的双等位基因CCR 5敲除，并测试遗传校正的iPSC衍生的血细胞在NOD/SCD/IL 2 Rg-/-（NSG）小鼠中移植后的可移植性和安全性。在目标3中，我们将测试iPSC衍生的CCR 5缺失细胞是否在NSG小鼠中受到保护免受HIV-1攻击。这些研究的成功完成将验证从iPSC产生再生血细胞的方法及其用于HIV治疗的潜在用途。本文提出的方法的应用也将有助于基础研究和未来的临床应用，用于修饰iPSC中的任何基因组靶点。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): HSC transplantations have become a standard of care for treating otherwise incurable blood cancers and genetic diseases. The curing of HIV and leukemia by transplanting HSCs from HIV-resistant patients with a CCR5-D32 mutation has demonstrated the power of stem cell-based therapies for AIDS. However, difficulties in the genetic modifications of autologous HSCs and in finding HLA-compatible CCR5-D32 donors significantly hamper the widespread use of somatic HSC-based AIDS therapies in the clinical setting. Converting adult human cells to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) provides a unique opportunity to produce immunologically matched gene-edited therapeutic cells for diseases of the blood and immune system as iPSCs can be expanded indefinitely ex vivo, genetically modified using homologous recombination and differentiated into hematopoietic cells. However, transferring this approach to the clinic requires the improvement of iPSC- derived blood cell engraftment, development of robust cGMP-compatible protocols for blood production from iPSCs, and the bi-allelic CCR5 disruption to provide an anti-HIV effect. The proposed studies capitalize on our recent advances in identification of pre-HSC hemogenic endothelium (HE) stage in human ESC/iPSC cultures and progress in locus-specific gene editing in ESC/iPSCs using ZNF-mediated homologous recombination. The three related specific aims are directed at understanding the molecular mechanisms controlling development of HSCs from human PSCs through the HE stage, with the ultimate goal to develop clinically- relevant protocols for ex vivo production of CCR5-knockout autologous HSCs for AIDS therapies. In aim 1, we will identify the biological regulators guiding the formation of engraftabl hematopoietic cells from HE with a goal to improve production of blood cells with regenerative potential from human PSCs. In aim 2, we will develop homologous recombination-based technology for the bi-allelic CCR5 knockout in iPSCs and test the engraftability and safety of genetically corrected iPSC-derived blood cells following transplantation in NOD/SCD/IL2Rg-/- (NSG) mice. In aim 3, we will test whether iPSC-derived CCR5-null cells are protected from HIV-1 challenge in NSG mice. Successful completion of the studies will validate a methodology for generation of regenerative blood cells from iPSCs and their potential use for HIV therapies. The applications of the methodology proposed here will be also useful for basic research and for future clinical applications for modification of any genomic target in iPSCs.