Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research ›› 2017, Vol. 21 ›› Issue (9): 1463-1469.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.2095-4344.2017.09.027

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Gene therapy with induced pluripotent stem cells: a hope for beta thalassemia?

Li Ling-li, Zhang Feng-bo, Li Qi, Ma Yan-lin   

  1. Hainan Provincial Key Laboratory for Human Reproductive Medicine and Genetic Research/Department of Reproductive Medicine, the Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, Haikou 570102, Hainan Province, China
  • Online:2017-03-28 Published:2017-03-31
  • Contact: Ma Yan-lin, M.D., Professor, Hainan Provincial Key Laboratory for Human Reproductive Medicine and Genetic Research/ Department of Reproductive Medicine, the Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, Haikou 570102, Hainan Province, China
  • About author:Li Ling-li, Studying for master’s degree, Hainan Provincial Key Laboratory for Human Reproductive Medicine and Genetic Research/Department of Reproductive Medicine, the Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, Haikou 570102, Hainan Province, China
  • Supported by:

    the National International Cooperation Project of China, No. 2014DFA30180; the Innovative Subjects of Postgraduates in Colleges and Universities in Hainan Province, No. Hys2016-8

Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Beta thalassaemia is a monogenic disease, which lacks effective clinical treatments. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation currently is the only radical treatment for beta thalassaemia, but the limits of suitable donor and costs minimize its clinical application. Given the technology of reprogramming using somatic cells is well established, gene therapy using induced pluripotent stem cells has become the new direction of beta thalassaemia treatment.
OBJECTIVE: To put forward the advantages of CRISPR/Cas9 technology in gene therapy of beta thalassaemia in the future by summarizing the mechanisms of three kinds of gene editing technologies and the preliminary experimental results in animal models.
METHODS: In order to search relevant articles about beta thalassaemia, the first author retrieved PubMed database and CNKI (from 1989 to 2015) using the key words of “beta thalassemia, genetic therapy, genome editing, homologous recombination, iPSCs” in English and Chinese, respectively. After eliminating literatures which were irrelevant to research purpose or containing a similar content, 67 articles were chosen for further analysis.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Gene editing technology has made considerable progress and three kinds of directed gene editing technologies have been developed, including ZFNs, TALENs, CRISPR/Cas technology. By targeting induced pluripotent stem cells from thalassemi patients, these three kinds of gene editing technologies have been expected to correct pathogenic genes of thalassemia. The CRISPR/Cas system is more simple, rapid, safe and efficient than the others. The CRISPR/Cas9 system is expected to repair β-globin genes in the induced pluripotent stem cells, germ cells, fertilized eggs and embryos from beta thalassaemia patients, laying the foundation for future clinical application.

 

中国组织工程研究杂志出版内容重点:干细胞;骨髓干细胞;造血干细胞;脂肪干细胞;肿瘤干细胞;胚胎干细胞;脐带脐血干细胞;干细胞诱导;干细胞分化;组织工程

Key words: beta-Thalassemia, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, Targeted Gene Repair, Tissue Engineering

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