Retroviral transduction and engraftment ability of primate hematopoietic progenitor and stem cells transduced under serum-free versus serum-containing conditions.
The ability to efficiently transduce hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells under serum-free conditions would be desirable for safety and standardization of clinical gene therapy protocols. Using rhesus macaques, we studied the transduction efficiency and engraftment ability of CD34-enriched SCF/G-CSF mobilized progenitor cells (PBSC) transduced with standard amphotropic marking vectors under serum-free and serum-containing conditions. Supernatants were collected from producer cells 16 hours after serum-free medium or medium containing 10% fetal calf serum was added. Vector titers were approximately two- to threefold higher when producer cells were cultured in serum-containing medium. However, retroviral transduction of rhesus CFU-GM was improved using serum-free vector-containing medium. For analysis of engraftment with transduced cells, three macaques had CD34+ peripheral blood stem cells split into two fractions for transduction. One fraction was transduced using serum-free vector-containing medium, and the other fraction was transduced using standard serum-containing medium. The two fractions were re-infused simultaneously following total body irradiation. In all three animals, there was equivalent marking from both vectors for 7-9 months post-transplantation. These data are encouraging regarding the removal of serum-containing medium from clinical hematopoietic cell transduction protocols, given the lack of a detrimental effect on transduction and engraftment with transduced cells.
Kluge
Kimberley A
KA
Hematology Branch, NHLBI, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
Bonifacino
Aylin C
AC
Sellers
Stephanie
S
Agricola
Brian A
BA
Donahue
Robert E
RE
Dunbar
Cynthia E
CE
D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods; D016895:Culture Media, Serum-Free; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D012190:Retroviridae; D014161:Transduction, Genetic / Q000379:methods
D016895:Culture Media, Serum-Free