Lentiviral-mediated gene complementation to rescue pathogenic ABCA3 variants

The ATP-binding cassette subfamily A member 3 (ABCA3) protein in the limiting membrane of lamellar bodies in alveolar type 2 (AT2) cells transports phospholipids required for pulmonary surfactant assembly. ABCA3 deficiency results from biallelic pathogenic variants in ABCA3 and causes progressive neonatal respiratory failure or childhood interstitial lung disease. Palliative care or lung transplantation are the only current definitive treatments for progressive respiratory failure due to ABCA3 deficiency. Complementing dysfunctional ABCA3 by gene addition has therapeutic potential. Previous studies show that repairing or complementing ABCA3 in induced pluripotent stem cell-derived AT2 cells rescues lamellar body morphology and surfactant phospholipid composition. Pathogenic variants disrupt ABCA3 function through altered protein trafficking (type 1) or by impaired phospholipid transport (type 2) into lamellar bodies. Here, we tested ABCA3 gene complementation using a human pulmonary epithelial cell line (A549) with a genomically silenced ABCA3 locus (ABCA3KO). Using this line, we generated additional cell lines that stably express individual ABCA3 variant cDNA constructs from a single genomic locus: L101P (type 1), E292V (type 2), E690K (type 2), or wild-type (WT) ABCA3. Lentiviral-mediated delivery of WT ABCA3 to each cell line partially rescued localization to LAMP3+ vesicles, lamellar body-like structure morphology, and cell proliferation. A functional assay measuring NF-κB signaling suggested that ABCA3 complementation ameliorated aberrant inflammatory signaling in E292V or E690K (type 2) mutant lines, but not in L101P (type 1) or knockout lines. These studies highlight the therapeutic potential of gene complementation as well as differences between ABCA3 pathogenic variants that may influence genetic therapy outcomes.