Genome editing in human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells via CRISPR-Cas9-mediated homology-independent targeted integration

Ex vivo gene correction of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) has emerged as a promising therapeutic approach for treatment of inherited human blood disorders. Use of engineered nucleases to target therapeutic transgenes to their endogenous genetic loci addresses many of the limitations associated with viral vector-based gene replacement strategies, such as insertional mutagenesis, variable gene dosage, and ectopic expression. Common methods of nuclease-mediated site specific integration utilize the homology-directed repair (HDR) pathway. However, these approaches are inefficient in HSPCs, where non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) is the primary DNA repair mechanism. Recently, a novel NHEJ-based approach to CRISPR-Cas9-mediated transgene knockin, known as homology-independent targeted integration (HITI), has demonstrated improved site-specific integration frequencies in non-dividing cells. Here we utilize a HITI-based approach to achieve robust site-specific transgene integration in human mobilized peripheral blood CD34+ HSPCs. As proof of concept, a reporter gene was targeted to a clinically relevant genetic locus using a recombinant adeno-associated virus serotype 6 vector and single guide RNA/Cas9 ribonucleoprotein complexes. We demonstrate high levels of stable HITI-mediated genome editing (similar to 21%) in repopulating HSPCs after transplantation into immunodeficient mice. Our study demonstrates that HITImediated genome editing provides an effective alternative to HDR-based transgene integration in CD34+ HSPCs.