Application of SFHR to gene therapy of monogenic disorders

Gene therapy treatment of disease will be greatly facilitated by the identification of genetic mutations through the Human Genome Project. The specific treatment will ultimately depend on the type of mutation as different genetic lesions will require different gene therapies. For example, large rearrangements and translocations may call for complementation with vectors containing the cDNA for the wild-type (wt) gene. On the other hand, smaller lesions, such as the reversion, addition or deletion of only a few base pairs, on single genes, or monogenic disorders, lend themselves to gene targeting. The potential for one gene targeting technique, small fragment homologous replacement (SFHR) to the gene therapy treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD) is presented. Successful conversion of the wt-beta-globin locus to a SCD genotype of human lymphocytes (K562) and progenitor/stem hematopoietic cells (CD34(+) and lin-CD38-) was achieved by electroporation or microinjection small DNA fragments (SDF).