Gene Correction of iPSCs from a Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Patient Normalizes the Lymphoid Developmental and Functional Defects

Summary

Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS) is an X-linked primary immunodeficiency disease caused by mutations in the gene encoding the WAS protein (WASp). Here, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) were derived from a WAS patient (WAS-iPSC) and the endogenous chromosomal WAS locus was targeted with a wtWAS-2A-eGFP transgene using zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) to generate corrected WAS-iPSC (cWAS-iPSC). WASp and GFP were first expressed in the earliest CD34 ⁺CD43 ⁺CD45 ⁻ hematopoietic precursor cells and later in all hematopoietic lineages examined. Whereas differentiation to non-lymphoid lineages was readily obtained from WAS-iPSCs, in vitro T lymphopoiesis from WAS-iPSC was deficient with few CD4 ⁺CD8 ⁺ double-positive and mature CD3 ⁺ T cells obtained. T cell differentiation was restored for cWAS-iPSCs. Similarly, defects in natural killer cell differentiation and function were restored on targeted correction of the WAS locus. These results demonstrate that the defects exhibited by WAS-iPSC-derived lymphoid cells were fully corrected and suggests the potential therapeutic use of gene-corrected WAS-iPSCs.

Highlights

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  Targeted endogenous knockin of Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS) transgene in WAS-iPSCs

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  Mutant WAS-iPSCs exhibited defective NK- and T-lymphoid cell development and function

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  Correction of WAS-iPSCs restored lymphoid cell development and function

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  These results suggest the potential therapeutic use of gene-corrected WAS-iPSCs

Abstract

In this article, Davis and colleagues investigated targeted gene correction of induced pluripotent stem cells derived from a patient with Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS). They employed a knockin strategy in which a WAS transgene construct was selectively integrated into the endogenous WAS locus. Lymphoid cell-specific development and function were selectively defective for WAS-iPSCs and restored for corrected iPSCs.