Targeted Gene Correction of Glanzmann Thrombasthenia Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Restores Surface Expression and Fibrinogen Binding of Integrin αIIbβ3,

Abstract 4173

Glanzmann Thrombasthenia (GT) is a rare, autosomal recessive disorder resulting from an absence of functional platelet integrin αIIbβ3, leading to impaired platelet aggregation and clinically presenting with severe bleeding. It is a model of an inherited platelet disorder that might benefit from corrective gene therapy. Treatment options for GT are limited and largely supportive. They include anti-fibrinolytics, activated factor VII, platelet transfusions, and bone marrow transplantation. Recent gene therapy research in a canine model for GT demonstrated that lentiviral transduction of mobilized hematopoietic stem cells could restore 6% αIIbβ3 receptors in thrombasthenic canine platelets relative to wild type (WT) canine platelets. As an alternative gene therapy strategy, we generated induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell lines from the peripheral blood of two patients with GT and examined whether a megakaryocyte-specific promoter driving αIIb cDNA expression within the AAVS1 safe harbor locus could ameliorate the GT phenotype in iPS cell-derived megakaryocytes. Patient 1 is a compound heterozygote for αIIb with the following two missense mutations: exon 2 c.331T>C (p.L100P) and exon 5 c.607G>A (p.S192N). Patient 2 is homozygous for a c.818G>A (p.G273D) mutation adjacent to the first calcium-binding domain of αIIb, leading to impaired intracellular transport of αIIbβ3. Both patients express <5% αIIbβ3 on the surface of their platelets. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from both GT patients and WT controls were efficiently reprogrammed to pluripotency using a doxycycline-inducible polycistronic lentivirus containing OCT4, KLF4, SOX2, and CMYC. Transgene constructs using a murine GPIbα promoter driving either a green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter or αIIb cDNA were inserted into a gene-targeting vector specific for the first intron of AAVS1, a locus amenable to gene targeting and resistant to transgene silencing in human iPS cells. The GPIbα-driven GFP transgene was efficiently targeted into AAVS1 in WT iPS cells using zinc finger nuclease-mediated homologous recombination, as was the αIIb construct into GT iPS cell lines. PCR and Southern blot analyses confirmed single, non-random, transgene integrations. The iPS cells were differentiated into megakaryocytes using a feeder-free/serum-free adherent monolayer protocol and analyzed by flow cytometry. GFP, along with endogenous CD41 (αIIb), was initially expressed in primitive WT hematopoietic progenitor cells. GFP expression was lost in erythrocytes and myeloid cells, but maintained in CD41+/CD42+ megakaryocytes, demonstrating that this transgenic construct mirrors endogenous CD41 expression. The GT phenotype was confirmed in megakaryocytes derived from patient iPS cells, showing loss of αIIbβ3 expression. When compared to WT iPS cell-derived megakaryocytes, gene-corrected GT iPS cell-derived megakaryocytes showed >50% and >70% αIIbβ3 surface expression for patients 1 and 2, respectively. Both patients' iPS cell-derived megakaryocytes also demonstrated fibrinogen binding upon thrombin activation. This is the first report of the generation and genetic correction of iPS cell lines from patients with a disease affecting platelet function. These findings suggest that this GPIbα-promoter construct targeted to the AAVS1 locus drives megakaryocyte-specific expression at a therapeutically significant level, which offers the possibility of correcting severe inherited platelet disorders beginning with iPS cells derived from these affected individuals.