[HTML][HTML] Progenitor-derived human endothelial cells evade alloimmunity by CRISPR/Cas9-mediated complete ablation of MHC expression

J Merola, M Reschke, RW Pierce, L Qin, S Spindler… - JCI insight, 2019 - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
J Merola, M Reschke, RW Pierce, L Qin, S Spindler, T Baltazar, TD Manes, F Lopez-Giraldez
JCI insight, 2019ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Tissue engineering may address organ shortages currently limiting clinical transplantation.
Off-the-shelf engineered vascularized organs will likely use allogeneic endothelial cells
(ECs) to construct microvessels required for graft perfusion. Vasculogenic ECs can be
differentiated from committed progenitors (human endothelial colony-forming cells or
HECFCs) without risk of mutation or teratoma formation associated with reprogrammed stem
cells. Like other ECs, these cells can express both class I and class II major …
Abstract
Tissue engineering may address organ shortages currently limiting clinical transplantation. Off-the-shelf engineered vascularized organs will likely use allogeneic endothelial cells (ECs) to construct microvessels required for graft perfusion. Vasculogenic ECs can be differentiated from committed progenitors (human endothelial colony-forming cells or HECFCs) without risk of mutation or teratoma formation associated with reprogrammed stem cells. Like other ECs, these cells can express both class I and class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules, bind donor-specific antibody (DSA), activate alloreactive T effector memory cells, and initiate rejection in the absence of donor leukocytes. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated dual ablation of β 2-microglobulin and class II transactivator (CIITA) in HECFC-derived ECs eliminates both class I and II MHC expression while retaining EC functions and vasculogenic potential. Importantly, dually ablated ECs no longer bind human DSA or activate allogeneic CD4+ effector memory T cells and are resistant to killing by CD8+ alloreactive cytotoxic T lymphocytes in vitro and in vivo. Despite absent class I MHC molecules, these ECs do not activate or elicit cytotoxic activity from allogeneic natural killer cells. These data suggest that HECFC-derived ECs lacking MHC molecule expression can be utilized for engineering vascularized grafts that evade allorejection.
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