Gene Therapy in Fanconi Anemia: A Matter of Time, Safety and Gene Transfer Tool Efficiency

Title:Gene Therapy in Fanconi Anemia: A Matter of Time, Safety and Gene Transfer Tool Efficiency

Volume: 16 Issue: 5

Author(s): Els Verhoeyen, Francisco Jose Roman-Rodriguez, Francois-Loic Cosset, Camille Levy and Paula Rio

Affiliation:

Keywords: Fanconi anemia, Hematopoietic stem cell, Lentiviral vector, Gene therapy, Targeted cell transduction, Pseudotyping, Reactive oxygen species, Bone marrow failure.

Abstract: Fanconi anemia (FA) is a rare genetic syndrome characterized by progressive marrow failure. Gene therapy by infusion of FA-corrected autologous hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) may offer a potential cure since it is a monogenetic disease with mutations in the FANC genes, coding for DNA repair enzymes [1]. However, the collection of hCD34+-cells in FA patients implies particular challenges because of the reduced numbers of progenitor cells present in their bone marrow (BM) [2] or mobilized peripheral blood [3-5]. In addition, the FA genetic defect fragilizes the HSCs [6]. These particular features might explain why the first clinical trials using murine leukemia virus derived retroviral vectors conducted for FA failed to show engraftment of corrected cells. The gene therapy field is now moving towards the use of lentiviral vectors (LVs) evidenced by recent succesful clinical trials for the treatment of patients suffering from adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) [7], β-thalassemia [8], metachromatic leukodystrophy [9] and Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome [10]. LV trials for X-linked severe combined immunodificiency and Fanconi anemia (FA) defects were recently initiated [11, 12]. Fifteen years of preclinical studies using different FA mouse models and in vitro research allowed us to find the weak points in the in vitro culture and transduction conditions, which most probably led to the initial failure of FA HSC gene therapy. In this review, we will focus on the different obstacles, unique to FA gene therapy, and how they have been overcome through the development of optimized protocols for FA HSC culture and transduction and the engineering of new gene transfer tools for FA HSCs. These combined advances in the field hopefully will allow the correction of the FA hematological defect in the near future.

Cite this article as:

Verhoeyen Els, Roman-Rodriguez Jose Francisco, Cosset Francois-Loic, Levy Camille and Rio Paula, Gene Therapy in Fanconi Anemia: A Matter of Time, Safety and Gene Transfer Tool Efficiency, Current Gene Therapy 2016; 16 (5) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1566523217666170109114309