An AAV vector-mediated gene delivery approach facilitates reconstitution of functional human CD8+ T cells in mice

In the present study, a novel adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector-mediated gene delivery approach was taken to improve the reconstitution of functional CD8(+) T cells in humanized mice, thereby mimicking the human immune system (HIS). Human genes encoding HLA-A2 and selected human cytokines (A2/hucytokines) were introduced to an immune-deficient mouse model [NOD/SCID/IL2rγ(null) (NSG) mice] using AAV serotype 9 (AAV9) vectors, followed by transplantation of human hematopoietic stem cells. NSG mice transduced with AAV9 encoding A2/hucytokines resulted in higher levels of reconstitution of human CD45(+) cells compared to NSG mice transduced with AAV9 encoding HLA-A2 alone or HLA-A2-transgenic NSG mice. Furthermore, this group of HIS mice also mounted the highest level of antigen-specific A2-restricted human CD8(+) T-cell response upon vaccination with recombinant adenoviruses expressing human malaria and HIV antigens. Finally, the human CD8(+) T-cell response induced in human malaria vaccine-immunized HIS mice was shown to be functional by displaying cytotoxic activity against hepatocytes that express the human malaria antigen in the context of A2 molecules. Taken together, our data show that AAV vector-mediated gene delivery is a simple and efficient method to transfer multiple human genes to immune-deficient mice, thus facilitating successful reconstitution of HIS in mice. The HIS mice generated in this study should ultimately allow us to swiftly evaluate the T-cell immunogenicity of various human vaccine candidates in a pre-clinical setting.