Adeno-associated virus type 2-mediated transduction of murine hematopoietic cells with long-term repopulating ability and sustained expression of a human globin gene in vivo

Adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV), a nonpathogenic human parvovirus, is gaining attention as a vector for potential use in human gene therapy. We and others have described AAV-mediated beta-globin gene transfer and expression in established human and murine erythroleukemia cell lines in vitro. However, successful AAV-mediated globin gene transduction of hematopoietic stem cells and long-term expression in vivo in progeny cells have not been documented. We report here that infection of murine hematopoietic bone marrow cells ex vivo with a recombinant AAV vector containing the genomic copy of a normal human globin gene followed by transplantation of these cells into lethally irradiated congenic mice resulted in efficient gene transfer into hematopoietic cells with long-term repopulating ability as detected by the presence of the human globin gene sequences in bone marrow and spleen in primary recipient mice for at least 6 months. Long-term expression of the human globin gene was also detected in bone marrow, but not in spleen, in primary recipient mice, Furthermore, in secondary-transplant experiments, we were also able to document the presence as well as expression of the transduced human globin gene in mouse bone marrow for up to 3 months, These results provide further support for potential use of the AAV-based vector system in gene therapy of human hemoglobinopathies in general and sickle-cell anemia and beta-thalassemia in particular.