Improved Human β-globin expression from self-inactivating lentiviral vectors carrying the chicken hypersensitive site-4 (cHS4) insulator element

Abstract

Effective gene therapy for β-thalassemia major (β-TM) requires consistent, high expression of human β-globin (hβ-globin) in red blood cells (RBCs). Several groups have now shown that lentiviral (LV) vectors stably transmit the hβ/hγ-globin genes and large elements of the locus control region, resulting in correction of the murine thalassemia intermedia (TI) phenotype and survival of mice with the TM phenotype. However, current LVs show variable hβ/ hγ-globin expression and require a high number of vector copies/ cell for a therapeutic effect. To address this, we designed LVs flanked by the chicken hypersensitive site-4 (cHS4) chromatin insulator element and compared them with their "un-insulated" counterparts. We observed a consistent twofold-higher hβ expression from insulated vectors in single-copy mouse erythroleukemia cell clones, an increase that resulted from reduced position effect variegation (PEV) and increased probability of expression from individual integrants. This effect was confirmed in vivo: an approximately twofold increase in hβ expression was seen in the RBC progeny of murine hematopoietic stem cells, with significantly higher numbers of hβ-expressing cells in individual secondary spleen colony-forming units. In summary, cHS4-insulated hβ-globin LVs showed distinct chromatin barrier activity, resulting in higher, consistent hβ expression. These studies have important implications for vector design for clinical trials for gene therapy for hemoglobinopathies.