The technique is literally that precise.” “We use TALEN-based genome editing to change just one nucleotide in one gene to correct the deficiency. “Unlike traditional gene therapy methods, we aren’t putting a whole new gene into a patient, which can cause unwanted side effects,” says Tushar Menon, first author and Salk postdoctoral researcher. This set of enzymes act as molecular scissors on genes, letting researchers snip away at a gene and replace the base pairs that make up DNA with other base pairs. To remove the mutation, the researchers used a technology called TALEN (similar to the better known CRISPR method). The second innovation was to use new gene editing technology to correct the SCID-related genetic deficiency in these iPSCs. “Once we had patient-derived stem cells, we could remove the genetic mutation, essentially fixing the cells,” explains one of the first authors and Salk postdoctoral researcher Amy Firth. First, they reverted the patient cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)–cells that, like embryonic stem cells, have the ability to turn into any type of tissue and hold vast promise for regenerative medicine. Using that small sample, the team developed the new method in three steps. To achieve the new method, the Salk team secured a sample of bone marrow from a deceased patient in Australia. Image: Courtesy of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies In this new approach to treating “bubble boy disease,” a stem cell colony generated from SCID-X1 patient cells (pictured, with cell nuclei in blue), can be genetically corrected and coaxed to grow new immune cells. Since then, other gene therapy methods have been developed, but these are generally suited for less mild forms of the disease and require bone marrow transplants, a difficult procedure to perform on critically sick infants. While this gene therapy did cure the disease at first, the artificial addition of genes ended up causing leukemia in a few of the patients. In what began as promising clinical trials in the 1990s, researchers hijacked virus machinery to go in and deliver the needed genes to newly growing cells in the patient’s bone marrow. Previous attempts to treat SCID involved bone marrow transplants or gene therapy, with mixed results. “It also has the potential to lay the foundation to cure other deadly and rare blood disorders.” “This work demonstrates a new method that could lead to a more effective and less invasive treatment for this devastating disease,” says senior author Inder Verma, Salk professor and American Cancer Society Professor of Molecular Biology. Though the new work, published Main Cell Stem Cell, is preliminary, it could offer a potentially less invasive and more effective approach than current options. The success of the new technique suggests the possibility of implanting these tweaked cells back into a patient so they can generate an immune system. Now, Salk researchers have found a way to, for the first time, convert cells from SCID patients to a stem cell-like state, fix the genetic mutation and prompt the corrected cells to successfully generate NK cells in the laboratory. This happens because stem cells in SCID patients’ bone marrow have a genetic mutation that prevents them from developing critical immune cells, called T and Natural Killer (NK) cells. They often have to live in sterile, isolated environments to avoid infections and, even then, most patients don’t live past a year or two. Born with an incomplete immune system, kids who have SCID–also known as “bubble boy” or “bubble baby” disease–can’t fight off even the mildest of germs. LA JOLLA–For infants with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), something as simple as a common cold or ear infection can be fatal. Salk researchers have been able to grow patient-derived, healthy cells in the lab, coming a step closer to treating fatal blood disorders March 12, 2015 MaImmune system-in-a-dish offers hope for “bubble boy” disease
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