Immune Modulatory Cell Therapy for Hemophilia B Based on CD20-Targeted Lentiviral Gene Transfer to Primary B Cells

Gene-modified B cells expressing immunoglobulin G (IgG) fusion proteins have been shown to induce tolerance in several autoimmune and other disease models. However, lack of a vector suitable for gene transfer to human B cells has been an obstacle for translation of this approach. To overcome this hurdle, we developed an IgG-human factor IX (hFIX) lentiviral fusion construct that was targeted to specifically transduce cells expressing human CD20 (hCD20). Receptor-specific retargeting by mutating envelope glycoproteins of measles virus (MV)-lentiviral vector (LV) and addition of a single-chain variable fragment specific for hCD20 resulted in gene delivery into primary human and transgenic hCD20 mouse B cells with high specificity. Notably, this protocol neither required nor induced activation of the B cells, as confirmed by minimal activation of inflammatory cytokines. Using this strategy, we were able to demonstrate induction of humoral tolerance, resulting in suppression of antibody formation against hFIX in a mouse model of hemophilia B (HB). In conclusion, transduction of receptor-specific retargeted LV into resting B cells is a promising method to develop B cell therapies for antigen-specific tolerance induction in human disease.