Feasibility of a Stem Cell Gene Therapy Approach with Nonmyeloablative Conditioning in Patients with HIV-1 Infection.

Several reasons warrant the development of innovative therapeutic strategies for HIV/AIDS. These include the inability of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) to eradicate the virus, the HAART-induced severe long-term toxicity occurring in patients, the development of HAART-resistant HIV-1 strains in the host, and the lack of an efficacious vaccine. Genetic engineering of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) combined with nonmyeloablative conditioning proved safety and efficacy in the treatment of adenosine deaminase-deficient severe combined immunodeficiency. The feasibility of such an approach in HIV-1 infection remains, however, to be determined. In an open-label prospective trial, 18 patients with HIV-1 infection (mean±SE age 35.7±1.2, range 18.9–40; HAART since at least 3 months; CD4⁺ T cell counts >200/μl) have been enrolled in a HSC retroviral vector gene therapy trial using RevM10 and polAS as anti-HIV genes. Nine patients received fresh transduced CD34⁺ cells and all study treatments, including CD34⁺ cell mobilisation with G-CSF (10 μg/kg/day for 5 days), CD34⁺ cell collection through aphaeresis, and nonmyeloablative conditioning (1.8 g/m² cyclophosphamide [CY]), while 9 did not undergo all study phases. All patients have been followed-up for at least 48 weeks. Mean±SE baseline CD4⁺ T cell counts were 577±42, while plasma HIV-1 RNA levels (VL) were below the limit of detection (80 copies/ml) of the assay (Nasba Organon) in 9 out of 18 patients. CD34⁺ cells were efficiently mobilized and collected from patients with HIV-1 infection, achieving 4.42±0.64 x 10⁶ CD34⁺ cells/kg after purification (CliniMACS, Miltenyi Biotec), and 3.93±1.2 x 10⁶ viable CD34⁺ cells/kg in the infusion product, 30% of which were transduced CD34⁺ cells. It is worth noting that 1) effective VL suppression significantly increased the yields of mobilization, purification and transduction processes, and 2) peripheral blood CD34⁺ cell counts before aphaeresis (mean, 72 cells/μl) predicted the number of viable CD34⁺ cells infused (β 0.722, 95% CI 0.007–0.092, P=0.028, regression analysis), and a cut-off value >30 CD34⁺ cells/μl predicted the success of all procedures (P=0.018, χ² analysis, Fisher’s exact test). Gene marking levels, predicted by the number of transduced cells infused, were detectable in all patients, though they significantly decreased over time. CY conditioning caused a marked decrease in CD4⁺ T cell counts, restored over long-term follow-up. This recovery correlated with levels of CD4⁺ TCR-rearrangement excision circles and CD4⁺CD45RA⁺CCR7⁺ naïve T cells, indicating thymus regeneration capacity in >30-year-old patients with HIV-1 infection. Importantly, CMV-specific IL-2- and IFN- γ-secreting CD4⁺CD69⁺ T cells were able to expand while no clinically relevant CMV reactivation occurred; moreover, proportions of IL-2, IL-2/IFN- γ, and IFN-γ-secreting HSV, TT, and EBV-specific CD4⁺ T cells were not altered by CY over time. These data indicate that effective stem cell gene transfer is feasible in patients with HIV-1 infection, and suggest the use of non-lymphocyte-toxic conditioning regimen, such as busulfan.