Expression of human CD18 in murine granulocytes and improved efficiency for infection of deficient human lymphoblasts.

The CD18 gene encodes the beta 2-subunit of leukocyte integrins, and mutations in this gene cause extreme host susceptibility to bacterial and fungal infection. Because expression of CD18 is restricted to bone marrow-derived cells, this disorder is considered an excellent candidate for somatic gene therapy utilizing ex vivo infection of bone marrow stem cells. We have constructed a retroviral vector expressing CD18 with the Moloney murine leukemia virus (Mo-MLV) long terminal repeat (LTR) as the promoter, and high-titer ecotropic and amphotropic producer cell lines were isolated using the GP+E-86 and GP+envAM12 safe packaging cell lines. Infection of CD18-deficient lymphoblasts resulted both in expression of immunodetectable CD18 at 35-40% of normal levels on 55-60% of cells and in functional restoration of CD18-dependent aggregation. All of 16 mice transplanted with syngeneic bone marrow infected with the CD18 retrovirus expressed human CD18 on 17-36% of granulocytes at 2 weeks after transplantation, and expression was appropriately up-regulated in response to stimulation with zymosan-activated serum. This recombinant retrovirus should prove useful for further studies of somatic gene therapy for CD18 deficiency.