A novel cell-sheet technology that achieves durable factor VIII delivery in a mouse model of hemophilia A

PLoS One. 2013 Dec 16;8(12):e83280. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0083280. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

Gene- or cell-based therapies aimed at creating delivery systems for coagulation factor VIII (FVIII) protein have emerged as promising options for hemophilia A treatment. However, several issues remain to be addressed regarding the efficacies and adverse events of these new classes of therapies. To improve an existing cell-based therapy involving the subcutaneous transplantation of FVIII-transduced blood outgrowth endothelial cells (BOECs), we employed a novel cell-sheet technology that allows individual dispersed cells to form a thin and contiguous monolayer without traditional bioabsorbable scaffold matrices. Compared to the traditional methodology, our cell-sheet approach resulted in longer-term and 3-5-fold higher expression of FVIII (up to 11% of normal) in recipient hemophilia A mice that lacked a FVIII humoral immune response due to transient immunosuppression with cyclophosphamide. Histological studies revealed that the transplanted BOEC sheets were structured as flat clusters, supporting the long-term expression of therapeutic FVIII in plasma from an ectopic subcutaneous space. Our novel tissue-engineering approach using genetically modified BOEC sheets could aid in development of cell-based therapy that will allow safe and effective in vivo delivery of functional FVIII protein in patients with hemophilia A.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Dogs
  • Endothelial Cells / immunology
  • Endothelial Cells / metabolism*
  • Endothelial Cells / transplantation*
  • Factor VIII / administration & dosage
  • Factor VIII / genetics*
  • Gene Transfer Techniques*
  • Genetic Therapy / methods*
  • Hemophilia A / genetics
  • Hemophilia A / pathology
  • Hemophilia A / therapy*
  • Immune Tolerance
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL

Substances

  • Factor VIII

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Program for Creation of Innovation Centers for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research Areas in the Project for Developing Innovation Systems “Cell-Sheet Tissue-Engineering Center (CSTEC)” (K.O. and T.O.); a Grant-in-Aid from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) (H.M.); and the Bayer Hemophilia Awards Program (H.M.). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.