BCL11A enhancer edited hematopoietic stem cells persist in rhesus monkeys without toxicity
Authors
Demirci, SelamiZeng, Jing
Wu, Yuxuan
Uchida, Naoya
Shen, Anne H.
Pellin, Danilo
Gamer, Jackson
Yapundich, Morgan
Drysdale, Claire
Bonanno, Jasmine
Bonifacino, Aylin C.
Krouse, Allen
Linde, Nathaniel Seth.
Engels, Theresa
Donahue, Robert E.
Haro-Mora, Juan J.
Leonard, Alexis
Nassehi, Tina
Luk, Kevin
Porter, Shaina N.
Lazzarotto, Cicera R.
Tsai, Shengdar Q.
Weiss, Mitchell
Pruett-Miller, Shondra M.
Wolfe, Scot A.
Bauer, Daniel E.
Tisdale, John F.
UMass Chan Affiliations
Graduate School of Biomedical SciencesDocument Type
Accepted ManuscriptPublication Date
2020-09-08Keywords
Genetic diseasesHematology
Hematopoietic stem cells
Stem cell transplantation
Transplantation
Sickle cell disease
β-thalassemia
γ-globin
CRISPR/Cas9
gene editing
Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins
Cell Biology
Congenital, Hereditary, and Neonatal Diseases and Abnormalities
Genetics and Genomics
Hematology
Hemic and Lymphatic Diseases
Medical Genetics
Nucleic Acids, Nucleotides, and Nucleosides
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Gene editing of the erythroid-specific BCL11A enhancer in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) from sickle cell disease (SCD) patients induces fetal hemoglobin (HbF) without detectable toxicity as assessed by mouse xenotransplant. Here, we evaluated autologous engraftment and HbF induction potential of erythroid-specific BCL11A enhancer edited HSPCs in four non-human primates. We utilized a single guide RNA (sgRNA) with identical human and rhesus target sequences to disrupt a GATA1 binding site at the BCL11A +58 erythroid enhancer. Cas9 protein and sgRNA ribonucleoprotein complex (RNP) was electroporated into rhesus HSPCs, followed by autologous infusion after myeloablation. We found that gene edits persisted in peripheral blood (PB) and bone marrow (BM) for up to 101 weeks similarly for BCL11A enhancer or control locus (AAVS1) targeted cells. Biallelic BCL11A enhancer editing resulted in robust gamma-globin induction, with the highest levels observed during stress erythropoiesis. Indels were evenly distributed across PB and BM lineages. Off-target edits were not observed. Non-homologous end-joining repair alleles were enriched in engrafting HSCs. In summary, we find that edited HSCs can persist for at least 101 weeks post-transplant, and biallelic edited HSCs provide substantial HbF levels in PB red blood cells, together supporting further clinical translation of this approach.Source
Demirci S, Zeng J, Wu Y, Uchida N, Shen AH, Pellin D, Gamer J, Yapundich M, Drysdale C, Bonanno J, Bonifacino AC, Krouse A, Linde NS, Engels T, Donahue RE, Haro-Mora JJ, Leonard A, Nassehi T, Luk K, Porter SN, Lazzarotto CR, Tsai SQ, Weiss M, Pruett-Miller SM, Wolfe SA, Bauer DE, Tisdale JF. BCL11A enhancer edited hematopoietic stem cells persist in rhesus monkeys without toxicity. J Clin Invest. 2020 Sep 8:140189. doi: 10.1172/JCI140189. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 32897878. Link to article on publisher's site
DOI
10.1172/JCI140189Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/41575PubMed ID
32897878Related Resources
Rights
Copyright © 2020 American Society for Clinical Investigation. Authors' accepted manuscript posted as allowed by the publisher's self-archiving policy at https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/6211.ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1172/JCI140189