Project description:Autologous stem cell transplant with gene therapy (ASCT-GT) provides curative therapy while reducing pretransplant immune-suppressive conditioning and eliminating posttransplant immune suppression. Clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP)-associated mutations increase and telomere lengths (TLs) shorten with natural aging and DNA damaging processes. It is possible that, if CHIP is present before ASCT-GT or mutagenesis occurs after busulfan exposure, the hematopoietic stem cells carrying these somatic variants may survive the conditioning chemotherapy and have a selective reconstitution advantage, increasing the risk of hematologic malignancy and overall mortality. Seventy-four peripheral blood samples (ranging from baseline to 120 months after ASCT-GT) from 10 pediatric participants who underwent ASCT-GT for adenosine deaminase-deficient severe combined immune deficiency (ADA-SCID) after reduced-intensity conditioning with busulfan and 16 healthy controls were analyzed for TL and CHIP. One participant had a significant decrease in TL. There were no CHIP-associated mutations identified by the next-generation sequencing in any of the ADA-SCID participants. This suggests that further studies are needed to determine the utility of germline analyses in revealing the underlying genetic risk of malignancy in participants who undergo gene therapy. Although these results are promising, larger scale studies are needed to corroborate the effect of ASCT-GT on TL and CHIP. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT00794508.
Project description:Retroviral gene therapy has proved efficacious for multiple genetic diseases of the hematopoietic system, but roughly half of clinical gene therapy trial protocols using gammaretroviral vectors have reported leukemias in some of the patients treated. In dramatic contrast, 39 adenosine deaminase-deficient severe combined immunodeficiency (ADA-SCID) patients have been treated with 4 distinct gammaretroviral vectors without oncogenic consequence. We investigated clonal dynamics and diversity in a cohort of 15 ADA-SCID children treated with gammaretroviral vectors and found clear evidence of genotoxicity, indicated by numerous common integration sites near proto-oncogenes and by increased abundance of clones with integrations near MECOM and LMO2 These clones showed stable behavior over multiple years and never expanded to the point of dominance or dysplasia. One patient developed a benign clonal dominance that could not be attributed to insertional mutagenesis and instead likely resulted from expansion of a transduced natural killer clone in response to chronic Epstein-Barr virus viremia. Clonal diversity and T-cell repertoire, measured by vector integration site sequencing and T-cell receptor β-chain rearrangement sequencing, correlated significantly with the amount of busulfan preconditioning delivered to patients and to CD34+ cell dose. These data, in combination with results of other ADA-SCID gene therapy trials, suggest that disease background may be a crucial factor in leukemogenic potential of retroviral gene therapy and underscore the importance of cytoreductive conditioning in this type of gene therapy approach.
Project description:Two patients with adenosine deaminase (ADA)-deficient severe combined immunodeficiency (ADA-SCID) received stem cell-based gene therapy (SCGT) using GCsapM-ADA retroviral vectors without preconditioning in 2003 and 2004. The first patient (Pt1) was treated at 4.7 years old, and the second patient (Pt2), who had previously received T cell gene therapy (TCGT), was treated at 13 years old. More than 10 years after SCGT, T cells showed a higher vector copy number (VCN) than other lineages. Moreover, the VCN increased with differentiation toward memory T and B cells. The distribution of vector-marked cells reflected variable levels of ADA requirements in hematopoietic subpopulations. Although neither patient developed leukemia, clonal expansion of SCGT-derived clones was observed in both patients. The use of retroviral vectors yielded clonal dominance of vector-marked clones, irrespective of the lack of leukemic changes. Vector integration sites common to all hematopoietic lineages suggested the engraftment of gene-marked progenitors in Pt1, who showed severe osteoblast (OB) insufficiency compared to Pt2, which might cause a reduction in the stem/progenitor cells in the bone marrow (BM). The impaired BM microenvironment due to metabolic abnormalities may create space for the engraftment of vector-marked cells in ADA-SCID, despite the lack of preconditioning.
Project description:Clinical improvement in stem cell gene therapy (SCGT) for primary immunodeficiencies depends on the engraftment levels of genetically corrected cells, and tracing the transgene in each hematopoietic lineage is therefore extremely important in evaluating the efficacy of SCGT. We established a single cell-based droplet digital PCR (sc-ddPCR) method consisting of the encapsulation of a single cell into each droplet, followed by emulsion PCR with primers and probes specific for the transgene. A fluorescent signal in a droplet indicates the presence of a single cell carrying the target gene in its genome, and this system can clearly determine the ratio of transgene-positive cells in the entire population at the genomic level. Using sc-ddPCR, we analyzed the engraftment of vector-transduced cells in two patients with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) who were treated with SCGT. Sufficient engraftment of the transduced cells was limited to the T cell lineage in peripheral blood (PB), and a small percentage of CD34+ cells exhibited vector integration in bone marrow, indicating that the transgene-positive cells in PB might have differentiated from a small population of stem cells or lineage-restricted precursor cells. sc-ddPCR is a simplified and powerful tool for the detailed assessment of transgene-positive cell distribution in patients treated with SCGT.
Project description:Gene transfer into HSCs is an effective treatment for SCID, although potentially limited by the risk of insertional mutagenesis. We performed a genome-wide analysis of retroviral vector integrations in genetically corrected HSCs and their multilineage progeny before and up to 47 months after transplantation into 5 patients with adenosine deaminase-deficient SCID. Gene-dense regions, promoters, and transcriptionally active genes were preferred retroviral integrations sites (RISs) both in preinfusion transduced CD34(+) cells and in vivo after gene therapy. The occurrence of insertion sites proximal to protooncogenes or genes controlling cell growth and self renewal, including LMO2, was not associated with clonal selection or expansion in vivo. Clonal analysis of long-term repopulating cell progeny in vivo revealed highly polyclonal T cell populations and shared RISs among multiple lineages, demonstrating the engraftment of multipotent HSCs. These data have important implications for the biology of retroviral vectors, the dynamics of genetically modified HSCs, and the safety of gene therapy.
Project description:Deficiency of adenosine deaminase (ADA, EC3.5.4.4), a housekeeping enzyme intrinsic to the purine salvage pathway, leads to severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) both in humans and mice. Lack of ADA results in the intracellular accumulation of toxic metabolites which have effects on T cell development and function. While untreated ADA-SCID is a fatal disorder, there are different therapeutic options available to restore ADA activity and reconstitute a functioning immune system, including enzyme replacement therapy (ERT). Administration of ERT in the form of pegylated bovine ADA (PEG-ADA) has proved a life-saving though non-curative treatment for ADA-SCID patients. However, in many patients treated with PEG-ADA, there is suboptimal immune recovery with low T and B cell numbers. Here, we show reduced thymus cellularity in ADA-SCID mice despite weekly PEG-ADA treatment. This was associated with lack of effective adenosine (Ado) detoxification in the thymus. We also show that thymocyte development in ADA-deficient thymi is arrested at the DN3-to-DN4 stage transition with thymocytes undergoing dATP-induced apoptosis rather than defective TCRβ rearrangement or β-selection. Our studies demonstrate at a detailed level that exogenous once-a-week enzyme replacement does not fully correct intra-thymic metabolic or immunological abnormalities associated with ADA deficiency.
Project description:BackgroundThe DNA-repair enzyme Artemis is essential for rearrangement of T- and B-cell receptors. Mutations in DCLRE1C, which encodes Artemis, cause Artemis-deficient severe combined immunodeficiency (ART-SCID), which is poorly responsive to allogeneic hematopoietic-cell transplantation.MethodsWe carried out a phase 1-2 clinical study of the transfusion of autologous CD34+ cells, transfected with a lentiviral vector containing DCLRE1C, in 10 infants with newly diagnosed ART-SCID. We followed them for a median of 31.2 months.ResultsMarrow harvest, busulfan conditioning, and lentiviral-transduced CD34+ cell infusion produced the expected grade 3 or 4 adverse events. All the procedures met prespecified criteria for feasibility at 42 days after infusion. Gene-marked T cells were detected at 6 to 16 weeks after infusion in all the patients. Five of 6 patients who were followed for at least 24 months had T-cell immune reconstitution at a median of 12 months. The diversity of T-cell receptor β chains normalized by 6 to 12 months. Four patients who were followed for at least 24 months had sufficient B-cell numbers, IgM concentration, or IgM isohemagglutinin titers to permit discontinuation of IgG infusions. Three of these 4 patients had normal immunization responses, and the fourth has started immunizations. Vector insertion sites showed no evidence of clonal expansion. One patient who presented with cytomegalovirus infection received a second infusion of gene-corrected cells to achieve T-cell immunity sufficient for viral clearance. Autoimmune hemolytic anemia developed in 4 patients 4 to 11 months after infusion; this condition resolved after reconstitution of T-cell immunity. All 10 patients were healthy at the time of this report.ConclusionsInfusion of lentiviral gene-corrected autologous CD34+ cells, preceded by pharmacologically targeted low-exposure busulfan, in infants with newly diagnosed ART-SCID resulted in genetically corrected and functional T and B cells. (Funded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT03538899.).
Project description:PurposeMetabolic detoxification with enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) promotes immune recovery in patients with adenosine deaminase (ADA)-deficient severe combined immunodeficiency (ADA-SCID). Elapegademase is a PEGylated recombinant bovine ADA ERT developed to replace the now-discontinued bovine-derived pegademase. This study was a 1-way crossover from pegademase to elapegademase in 7 patients with ADA-SCID to assess efficacy and safety outcomes for elapegademase.MethodsAfter once-weekly pegademase dosage was adjusted to achieve therapeutic metabolic detoxification and trough ADA activity, patients transitioned to a bioequivalent dose of elapegademase. Maintenance of metabolic detoxification and adequate ADA activity were evaluated periodically.ResultsOne patient withdrew after 2 doses of an early elapegademase formulation due to injection-site pain caused by EDTA. The 6 remaining patients completed 71-216 weeks of elapegademase therapy with a formulation that did not contain EDTA. In these patients, elapegademase improved ADA activity compared with pegademase and maintained metabolic detoxification. Total lymphocyte counts increased for all completer patients from between 1.2- and 2.1-fold at the end of study compared with baseline. Elapegademase had a comparable safety profile to pegademase; no patient developed a severe infectious complication. Three patients had transient, non-neutralizing antibodies to pegademase, elapegademase, and/or polyethylene glycol ≤ 47 weeks of treatment without effect on trough plasma ADA activity or trough erythrocyte deoxyadenosine nucleotide levels.ConclusionElapegademase was safe, well tolerated, achieved stable trough plasma ADA activity with weekly dosing, was effective in maintaining metabolic detoxification, and was associated with maintenance or improvements in lymphocyte counts compared with pegademase therapy in patients with ADA-SCID.