Platelet Gene Therapy Promotes Targeted Peripheral Tolerance by Clonal Deletion and Induction of Antigen-Specific Regulatory T Cells
Abstract
Delivery of gene therapy as well as of biologic therapeutics is often hampered by the immune response of the subject receiving the therapy. We have reported that effective gene therapy for hemophilia utilizing platelets as a delivery vehicle engenders profound tolerance to the therapeutic product. In this study, we investigated whether this strategy can be applied to induce immune tolerance to a non-coagulant protein and explored the fundamental mechanism of immune tolerance induced by platelet-targeted gene delivery. We used ovalbumin (OVA) as a surrogate non-coagulant protein and constructed a lentiviral vector in which OVA is driven by the platelet-specific αIIb promoter. Platelet-specific OVA expression was introduced by bone marrow transduction and transplantation. Greater than 95% of OVA was stored in platelet α-granules. Control mice immunized with OVA generated OVA-specific IgG antibodies; however, mice expressing OVA in platelets did not. Furthermore, OVA expression in platelets was sufficient to prevent the rejection of skin grafts from CAG-OVA mice, demonstrating that immune tolerance developed in platelet-specific OVA-transduced recipients. To assess the mechanism(s) involved in this tolerance we used OTII mice that...Continue Reading
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