title: Transient in vivo selection of transduced peripheral blood cells using antifolate drug selection in rhesus macaques that received transplants with hematopoietic stem cells expressing dihydrofolate reductase vectors.
abstract: One of the main obstacles for effective human gene therapy for hematopoietic disorders remains the achievement of an adequate number of genetically corrected blood cells. One approach to this goal is to incorporate drug resistance genes into vectors to enable in vivo selection of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Although a number of drug resistance vectors enable HSC selection in murine systems, little is known about these systems in large animal models. To address this issue, we transplanted cells transduced with dihydrofolate resistance vectors into 6 rhesus macaques and studied whether selection of vector-expressing cells occurred following drug treatment with trimetrexate and nitrobenzylmercaptopurineriboside-phosphate. In some of the 10 administered drug treatment courses, substantial increases in the levels of transduced peripheral blood cells were noted; however, numbers returned to baseline levels within 17 days. Attempts to induce stem cell cycling with stem cell factor and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor prior to drug treatment did not lead to sustained enrichment for transduced cells. These data highlight an important species-specific difference between murine and nonhuman primate models for assessing in vivo HSC selection strategies and emphasize the importance of using drugs capable of inducing selective pressure at the level of HSCs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology-Oncology, Division of Experimental Hematology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 332 N Lauderdale, Memphis, TN 38105, USA.
authors.forename: Derek A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Persons
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Allay
authors.forename: Aylin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bonifacino
authors.forename: Taihe
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Agricola
authors.forename: Mark E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Metzger
authors.forename: Robert E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Donahue
authors.forename: Cynthia E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Dunbar
authors.forename: Brian P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Sorrentino
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004338:Drug Combinations; D004351:Drug Resistance / Q000235:genetics; D015316:Genetic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D005965:Glucuronates / Q000494:pharmacology; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D013762:Tetrahydrofolate Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics*; D013868:Thioinosine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D013873:Thionucleotides / Q000494:pharmacology; D014161:Transduction, Genetic; D016597:Trimetrexate / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D004338:Drug Combinations; D005965:Glucuronates; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D013873:Thionucleotides; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D013868:Thioinosine; C028318:nitrobenzylthioinosine 5'-monophosphate; D013762:Tetrahydrofolate Dehydrogenase; C056321:trimetrexate glucuronate; D016597:Trimetrexate