Boston Children’s

A new study suggests CRISPR gene editing therapies should be customized for each patient

/ Todd Dubnicoff / 2 Comments

You know a scientific advance is a big deal when it becomes the main premise and title of a Jennifer Lopez-produced TV drama. That’s the case for CRISPR, a revolutionary gene-editing technology that promises to yield treatments for a wide range of genetic diseases.

In fact, clinical trials using the CRISPR method are already underway with more on the horizon. And at CIRM, we’re funding several CRISPR projects including a candidate gene and stem cell therapy that applies CRISPR to repair a genetic mutation found in sickle cell anemia patients.

geneeditingclip2

Animation by Todd Dubnicoff/CIRM

While these projects are moving full steam ahead, a study published this week in PNAS suggests a note of caution. They report that the natural genetic variability that is found when comparing  the DNA sequences of individuals has the potential to negatively impact the effectiveness of a CRISPR-based treatment and in some cases, could lead to dangerous side effects. As a result, the research team – a collaboration between Boston Children’s Hospital and the University of Montreal – recommends that therapy products using CRISPR should be customized to take into account the genetic variation between patients.

CRISPR 101
While other gene-editing methods pre-date CRISPR, the gene-editing technique has taken the research community by storm because of its ease of use. Pretty much any lab can incorporate it into their studies. CRISPR protein can cut specific DNA sequence within a person’s cells with the help of an attached piece of RNA. It’s pretty straight-forward to customize this “guide” RNA molecule so that it recognizes a desired DNA sequence that is in need of repair or modification.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/112757040

Because CRISPR activity heavily relies on the guide RNA molecule’s binding to a specific DNA sequence, there have been on-going concerns that a patient’s genetic variability could hamper the effectiveness of a given CRISPR therapy if it didn’t bind well. Even worse, if the genetic variability caused the CRISPR product to bind and inactivate a different region of DNA, say a gene responsible for suppressing cancer growth, it could lead to dangerous, so-called off target effects.

Although, studies have been carried out to measure the frequency of these potential CRISPR mismatches, many of the analyses depend on a reference DNA sequence from one individual. But as senior author Stuart Orkin, of Dana-Farber Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, points out in a press release, this is not an ideal way to gauge CRISPR effectiveness and safety:

orkin

Stuart Orkin

“Humans vary in their DNA sequences, and what is taken as the ‘normal’ DNA sequence for reference cannot account for all these differences.”

 

 

One DNA sequence is not like the other
So, in this study, the research team analyzed previously published DNA sequence data from 7,444 people. And they focused on 30 disease genes that various researchers were targeting with CRISPR gene-editing. The team also generated 3,000 different guide RNAs with which to target those 30 disease genes.

The analysis showed that, in fact, about 50 percent of the guide RNAs could potentially have mismatches due to genetic variability found in these patients’ DNA sequences. These mismatches could lead to less effective binding of CRISPR to the disease gene target, which would reduce the effectiveness of the gene editing. And, though rare, the team also found cases in which an individual’s genetic variability could cause the CRISPR guide RNA to bind and cut in the wrong spot.

Matthew Canver, an MD-PhD student at Harvard Medical School who is also an author in the study, points out these less-than-ideal activities could also impact other gene editing techniques. Canver gives an overall recommendation how to best move forward with CRISPR-based therapy development:

canver, matthew

Matthew Canver

“The unifying theme is that all these technologies rely on identifying stretches of DNA bases very specifically. As these gene-editing therapies continue to develop and start to approach the clinic, it’s important to make sure each therapy is going to be tailored to the patient that’s going to be treated.”

 

Stories that caught our eye: How dying cells could help save lives; could modified blood stem cells reverse diabetes?; and FDA has good news for patients, bad news for rogue clinics

/ Kevin McCormack / Leave a comment

Gunsmoke

Growing up I loved watching old cowboy movies. Invariably the hero, even though mortally wounded, would manage to save the day and rescue the heroine and/or the town.

Now it seems some stem cells perform the same function, dying in order to save the lives of others.

Researchers at Kings College in London were trying to better understand Graft vs Host Disease (GvHD), a potentially fatal complication that can occur when a patient receives a blood stem cell transplant. In cases of GvHD, the transplanted donor cells turn on the patient and attack their healthy cells and tissues.

Some previous research had found that using bone marrow cells called mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) had some success in combating GvHD. But it was unpredictable who it helped and why.

Working with mice, the Kings College team found that the MSCs were only effective if they died after being transplanted. It appears that it is only as they are dying that the MSCs engage with the individual’s immune system, telling it to stop attacking healthy tissues. The team also found that if they kill the MSCs just before transplanting them into mice, they were just as effective.

In a news article on HealthCanal, lead researcher Professor Francesco Dazzi, said the next step is to see if this will apply to, and help, people:

“The side effects of a stem cell transplant can be fatal and this factor is a serious consideration in deciding whether some people are suitable to undergo one. If we can be more confident that we can control these lethal complications in all patients, more people will be able to receive this life saving procedure. The next step will be to introduce clinical trials for patients with GvHD, either using the procedure only in patients with immune systems capable of killing mesenchymal stem cells, or killing these cells before they are infused into the patient, to see if this does indeed improve the success of treatment.”

The study is published in Science Translational Medicine.

Genetically modified blood stem cells reverse diabetes in mice (Todd Dubnicoff)

When functioning properly, the T cells of our immune system keep us healthy by detecting and killing off infected, damaged or cancerous cells in our body. But in the case of type 1 diabetes, a person’s own T cells turn against the body by mistakenly targeting and destroying perfectly normal islet cells in the pancreas, which are responsible for producing insulin. As a result, the insulin-dependent delivery of blood sugar to the energy-hungry organs is disrupted leading to many serious complications. Blood stem cell transplants have been performed to treat the disease by attempting to restart the immune system. The results have failed to provide a cure.

Now a new study, published in Science Translational Medicine, appears to explain why those previous attempts failed and how some genetic rejiggering could lead to a successful treatment for type 1 diabetes.

An analysis of the gene activity inside the blood stem cells of diabetic mice and humans reveals that these cells lack a protein called PD-L1. This protein is known to play an important role in putting the brakes on T cell activity. Because T cells are potent cell killers, it’s important for proteins like PD-L1 to keep the activated T cells in check.

Cell based image for t 1 diabetes

Credit: Andrea Panigada/Nancy Fliesler

Researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital hypothesized that adding back PD-L1 may prevent T cells from the indiscriminate killing of the body’s own insulin-producing cells. To test this idea, the research team genetically engineered mouse blood stem cells to produce the PD-L1 protein. Experiments with the cells in a petri dish showed that the addition of PD-L1 did indeed block the attack-on-self activity. And when these blood stem cells were transplanted into a diabetic mouse strain, the disease was reversed in most of the animals over the short term while a third of the mice had long-lasting benefits.

The researchers hope this targeting of PD-L1 production – which the researchers could also stimulate with pharmacological drugs – will contribute to a cure for type 1 diabetes.

FDA’s new guidelines for stem cell treatments

Gottlieb

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb

Yesterday Scott Gottlieb, the Commissioner at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), laid out some new guidelines for the way the agency regulates stem cells and regenerative medicine. The news was good for patients, not so good for clinics offering unproven treatments.

First the good. Gottlieb announced new guidelines encouraging innovation in the development of stem cell therapies, and faster pathways for therapies, that show they are both safe and effective, to reach the patient.

At the same time, he detailed new rules that provide greater clarity about what clinics can do with stem cells without incurring the wrath of the FDA. Those guidelines detail the limits on the kinds of procedures clinics can offer and what ways they can “manipulate” those cells. Clinics that go beyond those limits could be in trouble.

In making the announcement Gottlieb said:

“To be clear, we remain committed to ensuring that patients have access to safe and effective regenerative medicine products as efficiently as possible. We are also committed to making sure we take action against products being unlawfully marketed that pose a potential significant risk to their safety. The framework we’re announcing today gives us the solid platform we need to continue to take enforcement action against a small number of clearly unscrupulous actors.”

Many of the details in the announcement match what CIRM has been pushing for some years. Randy Mills, our previous President and CEO, called for many of these changes in an Op Ed he co-wrote with former US Senator Bill Frist.

Our hope now is that the FDA continues to follow this promising path and turns these draft proposals into hard policy.

 

In living color: new imaging technique tracks traveling stem cells

/ cirmweb / Leave a comment

Before blood stem cells can mature, before they can grow and multiply into the red blood cells that feed our organs, or the white blood cells that protect us from pathogens, they must go on a journey.

A blood stem cell en route to taking root in a zebrafish. [Credit: Boston Children's Hospital]

A blood stem cell en route to taking root in a zebrafish. [Credit:
Boston Children’s Hospital]

This journey, which takes place in the developing embryo, moves blood stem cells from their place of origin to where they will take root to grow and mature. That this journey happened was well known to scientists, but precisely how it happened remained shrouded in darkness.

But now, for the first time, scientists at Boston Children’s Hospital have literally shone a light on the entire process. In so doing, they have opened the door to improving surgical procedures that also rely on the movement of blood cells—such as bone marrow transplants, which are in essence stem cell transplants.

Reporting in today’s issue of the journal Cell, Boston Children’s senior investigator Leonard Zon and his team developed a way to visually track the trip that blood stem cells take in the developing embryo. As described in today’s news release, the same process that guides blood stem cells to the right place also occurs during a bone marrow transplant. The similarities between the two, therefore, could lead to more successful bone marrow transplants. According to the study’s co-first author Owen Tamplin:

“Stem cell and bone marrow transplants are still very much a black box—cells are introduced into a patient and later on we can measure recovery of the blood system, but what happens in between can’t be seen. Now we have a system where we can actually watch that middle step.”

And in the following video, Zon describes exactly how they did it:

As outlined in the above video, Zon and his team developed a transparent version of the zebrafish, a tiny model organism that is often used by scientists to study embryonic development. They then labeled blood stem cells in this transparent fish with a special fluorescent dye, so that the cells glowed green. And finally, with the help of both confocal and electron microscopy, they sat back and watched the blood stem cell take root in what’s called its niche—in beautiful Technicolor.

“Nobody’s ever visualized live how a stem cell interacts with its niche,” explained Zon. “This is the first time we get a very high-resolution view of the process.”

Further experiments found that the process in zebrafish closely resembled the process in mice—an indication that the same basic system could exist for humans.

With that possibility in mind, Zon and his team already have a lead on a way to improve the success of human bone marrow transplants. In chemical screening experiments, the team identified a chemical compound called lycorine that boosts the interaction between the zebrafish blood stem cell and its niche—thus promoting the number of blood stem cells as the embryo matures.

Does the lycorine compound (or an equivalent) exist to boost blood stem cells in mice? Or even in humans? That remains to be seen. But with the help of the imaging technology used by Zon and the Boston Children’s team—they have a good chance of being able to see it.