Factors affecting the transduction of pluripotent hematopoietic stem cells: long-term expression of a human adenosine deaminase gene in mice.

An amphotropic retroviral vector, LgAL(delta Mo + PyF101) containing a human adenosine deaminase (ADA) cDNA was used to optimize procedures for the lasting genetic modification of the hematopoietic system of mice. The highest number of retrovirally infected cells in the hematopoietic tissues of long-term reconstituted mice was observed after transplantation of bone marrow (BM) cells that had been cocultured in the presence of both interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha) and IL-3. A significantly lower number was detected when IL-1 alpha was omitted from such cocultures. The yield of cells that generate spleen colony-forming cells (CFU-S) in the BM of lethally irradiated recipients (MRA-CFU-S) significantly improved on inclusion of the adherent cell fraction of cocultures in the transplant. Retroviral integration patterns in MRA-CFU-S-derived spleen colonies showed that an MRA-CFU-S can produce many CFU-S during BM regeneration. Expression of hADA was detected in the circulating white blood cells of long-term reconstituted animals, demonstrating that the LgAL(delta Mo + PyF101) vector is capable of directing the sustained expression of hADA, and in approximately 35% of the transduced MRA-CFU-S-derived spleen colonies. These results should facilitate the development of gene therapy protocols for the treatment of severe combined immunodeficiency caused by a lack of functional ADA.