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BRIEF REPORT
From the Hematology Branch, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute, and the Molecular and Clinical Hematology Branch, the
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, and the Biochemistry
Department, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN.
Transduction of murine stem cells with a multidrug-resistance
1 gene (MDR1) retrovirus results in dramatic ex
vivo and in vivo expansion of repopulating cells accompanied by a
myeloproliferative disorder. Given the use of
MDR1-containing vectors in human trials, investigations have been extended to nonhuman primates.
Peripheral blood stem cells from 2 rhesus monkeys were collected,
CD34-enriched, split into 2 portions, and transduced with either
MDR1 vectors or neo vectors and continued in
culture for a total of 10 days before reinfusion. At engraftment, the
copy number in granulocytes was extremely high from both
MDR vectors and neo vectors, but the
copy number fell to 0.01 to 0.05 for both. There were no perturbations of the leukocyte count or differential noted. After 3 cycles of stem
cell factor/granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, there were no
changes in the levels of MDR1 vector- or neo
vector-containing cells. There was no evidence for expansion of
MDR1 vector-transduced cells. Long-term engraftment
with MDR1 vector- and neo vector-transduced cells occurred despite prolonged culture.
(Blood. 2001;97:1888-1891) The introduction of drug-resistance
genes into hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) has been pursued as
a strategy to protect patients from chemotherapy-induced
myelosuppression and to allow in vivo selection of transduced
cells.1 The most extensively studied is the
multidrug-resistance 1 gene (MDR1) encoding
P-glycoprotein (P-gp), a transmembrane pump that effluxes
anthracyclines, vinca alkaloids, and paclitaxel. Murine studies
demonstrated that HSCs containing MDR1 vectors had
preferential survival in vivo after treatment with
MDR1-pumped drugs.2 Recently we reported that murine HSCs transduced with a Harvey murine sarcoma virus vector (HaMDR1) expressing a splice-corrected MDR1 complementary
DNA (cDNA) were able to expand remarkably in vitro, and when
transplanted, the cells continued to expand in vivo, resulting in a
polyclonal myeloproliferative syndrome with blastic transformation in
some animals.3 Even without prolonged ex vivo expansion,
the same phenomenon with longer latency resulted when transduced cells were given without expansion, suggesting that
MDR1-overexpressing HSCs have an intrinsic survival or
proliferative advantage.4 Helper virus was not detected,
and other Harvey vectors with identical backbones have not induced the
same syndrome, thereby implicating the overexpression of P-gp as the
etiology of the HSC effect. The underlying mechanism is being actively
investigated, but it still remains unclear.
This finding has resulted in concerns regarding the safety of
clinical trials employing MDR1 vectors. Several trials have resulted in low-level and often transient engraftment with
vector-containing cells, and there is no convincing evidence for
selection of transduced cells with post-transplantation
chemotherapy.5-8 The most recent trial did report
increased levels of vector-containing cells in some patients
after chemotherapy.9 Although there has been no observed
myeloproliferation, HSC transduction was inefficient, and expression of
functional P-gp was hampered by a cryptic splice site in the
MDR1 cDNA used.10 We have now used the rhesus
macaque to investigate this phenomenon in a model with more direct
relevance to human HSC biology.11 Such studies are
important to complete before considering clinical trials using
MDR1 vectors optimized for expression.
Animal care and cell collection
Transduction and expansion
Statistical analysis Blood samples for molecular analysis and complete blood count determinations were collected at the time of engraftment, weekly for 1 month, and then monthly. After 3 months both animals were given a total of 3 monthly cycles of G-CSF/SCF daily for 5 days. One year after transplantation, bone marrow was collected; CD34-enriched with the 12.8 antibody as described above; and then further purified by fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS) after staining with a second CD34 antibody, anti-CD34 murine immunoglobulin (Ig)G1 (clone 563; gift from G. Gaudernack, The National Hospital, Oslo, Norway), which was conjugated to allophycocyanin as described.12 Purity was greater than 96%. DNA was extracted using the QIAamp kit (Qiagen, Chatsworth, CA), and RNA was extracted using the RNA STAT 60 (Tel-Test Inc, Friendswood, TX).Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for neo sequences and
Transduction and culture conditions for rhesus CD34-enriched cells were chosen to be as similar to the murine model as possible.3 The identical HaMDR1 vector was used and packaged amphotropically. CD34-enriched peripheral blood stem cell samples from 2 monkeys were split into equal halves and transduced either with the HaMDR1 vector or a control neo marking vector (G1Na) to assess the competitive repopulation ability of cells transduced with the MDR1 versus the control vector.17 Using monkey Nos. 95E038 and 95E120, 47 and 34 million CD34-enriched cells, respectively, were obtained, transduced, and then expanded as described above. At the end of culture, the total cell number had expanded 40- and 37-fold for the HaMDR1-transduced cells, and 47- and 67-fold for the G1Na-transduced cells, with similar degrees of expansion for colony-forming unit granulocyte-macrophage (CFU-GM). Both animals engrafted rapidly, with neutrophil counts
of more than 500 cells per µL by day 10, despite receiving only cells cultured for prolonged periods ex vivo. The level of marked cells containing either vector was initially very high in both animals (Figures 1 and
2) and then dropped to stable levels of a
few percent, assuming one insertion of vector per cell. There was no
evidence for selective expansion of MDR1 compared to
neo transduced cells. The animals were treated with 3 monthly cycles of SCF and G-CSF more than 5 months after
transplantation in an attempt to accelerate any in vivo advantage for
MDR1-transduced cells; these cytokines were effective at
decreasing the latency of the stem cell expansion and
myeloproliferative syndrome in the murine model.4 We
observed no effect on the relative levels of circulating
vector-containing cells (Figures 1 and 2). With follow-up of more than
one year, this pattern has persisted, and other than the cytokine
treatment periods, the animals have maintained normal leukocyte counts
and differentials. To document that the MDR1 vector was
actually expressing in vivo, RT-PCR was performed, and transcription of
MDR1 driven by the vector long-term repeat sequence
was detected in mature circulating cells and in
CD34+-purified progenitors (Figure 1B).
There are a number of explanations for the lack of an observable phenotype in the rhesus compared to the murine model. Stem cell kinetics in mice versus primates may be quite different. In general, mice receiving transduced cells have oligoclonal reconstitution, suggesting that (1) a relatively small number of stem cells contribute to hematopoiesis, (2) each stem cell therefore may be mitotically very active, and (3) differences in proliferative or survival potential may manifest quickly.3 In contrast, we have shown that primates appear to reconstitute polyclonally, and 40 or more transduced clones contribute to reconstitution for more than one year.18 Therefore, any effect could require longer latency. Second, in primates the expression level of the MDR1 protein in HSCs or progenitors may be inadequate to produce the effect. In the murine studies, each MDR1- or control-transduced primitive cell contributing to hematopoiesis appeared to have multiple vector insertions.3,4 In primates we have rarely found evidence for more than one vector insertion per cell, presumably resulting in a lower expression level.18 Third, the effect may be specific to murine cells due to specific interactions of MDR1 with murine pathways affecting proliferation or survival of cells. Although these data are reassuring in some respects regarding the use of MDR1 vectors in past and future clinical trials, follow-up of these animals should be continued, and caution should be exercised until more information regarding the mechanism of the effect in the murine cellsis obtained. Whether extended ex vivo culture can "expand" short-term or long-term engrafting cells is a critical issue for gene therapy and clinical transplantation applications. Previously we reported that transduced cells expanded for 10-14 days lost almost all repopulating ability, even short-term, compared to cells cultured for only 4 days.15 Thus, we were surprised that in the current study, engraftment with transduced expanded cells occurred at encouraging levels up to 5% long-term. These cultures included the CH-296 carboxy-terminal fibronectin fragment, and this may have supported viability and cycling of engrafting cells better than standard supernatant culture or culture on marrow stromal cells.19,20 We are now directly examining this finding in the macaque by comparing the engraftment of cells cultured and transduced for 10-14 days in the presence of fibronectin to cells cultured and transduced for 4 days.
We wish to thank Immunex (Seattle, WA) for supplying flt-3 ligand, Amgen (Thousand Oaks, CA) for supplying stem cell factor and G-CSF, and Takara Shuzo (Otsu, Japan) for supplying Retronectin.
Submitted June 27, 2000; accepted November 14, 2000.
The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. Therefore, and solely to indicate this fact, this article is hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. section 1734.
Reprints: Cynthia E. Dunbar, Hematology Branch, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bldg 10, Rm 7C103, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892; e-mail: dunbarc{at}nhlbi.nih.gov.
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Selection of drug resistant bone marrow cells in vivo after retroviral transfer of human MDR1.
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Transduction of murine bone marrow cells with an MDR1 vector enables ex vivo stem cell expansion, but these expanded grafts cause a myeloproliferative syndrome in transplanted mice.
Blood.
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Enforced P-glycoprotein pump function in murine bone marrow cells results in expansion of SP cells in vitro and repopulating cells in vivo.
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Donahue RE, Kirby MR, Metzger ME, Agricola BA, Sellers SE, Cullis HM.
Peripheral blood CD34+ cells differ from bone marrow CD34+ cells in Thy-1 expression and cell cycle status in nonhuman primates mobilized or non mobilized with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and/or stem cell factor.
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© 2001 by The American Society of Hematology.
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U. Modlich, O. S. Kustikova, M. Schmidt, C. Rudolph, J. Meyer, Z. Li, K. Kamino, N. von Neuhoff, B. Schlegelberger, K. Kuehlcke, et al. Leukemias following retroviral transfer of multidrug resistance 1 (MDR1) are driven by combinatorial insertional mutagenesis Blood, June 1, 2005; 105(11): 4235 - 4246. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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T. Ueda, S. Brenner, H. L. Malech, S. M. Langemeijer, S. Perl, M. Kirby, O. A. Phang, A. E. Krouse, R. E. Donahue, E. M. Kang, et al. Cloning and Functional Analysis of the Rhesus Macaque ABCG2 Gene: FORCED EXPRESSION CONFERS AN SP PHENOTYPE AMONG HEMATOPOIETIC STEM CELL PROGENY IN VIVO J. Biol. Chem., January 14, 2005; 280(2): 991 - 998. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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C. Baum, J. Dullmann, Z. Li, B. Fehse, J. Meyer, D. A. Williams, and C. von Kalle Side effects of retroviral gene transfer into hematopoietic stem cells Blood, March 15, 2003; 101(6): 2099 - 2113. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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T. Licht, M. Haskins, P. Henthorn, S. E. Kleiman, D. M. Bodine, T. Whitwam, J. M. Puck, M. M. Gottesman, and J. R. Melniczek Drug selection with paclitaxel restores expression of linked IL-2 receptor gamma -chain and multidrug resistance (MDR1) transgenes in canine bone marrow PNAS, February 20, 2002; (2002) 52712199. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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T. Licht, M. Haskins, P. Henthorn, S. E. Kleiman, D. M. Bodine, T. Whitwam, J. M. Puck, M. M. Gottesman, and J. R. Melniczek Drug selection with paclitaxel restores expression of linked IL-2 receptor gamma -chain and multidrug resistance (MDR1) transgenes in canine bone marrow PNAS, March 5, 2002; 99(5): 3123 - 3128. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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