Publications

Maria Grazia Roncarolo

Publications

  • Development of beta-globin gene correction in human hematopoietic stem cells as a potential durable treatment for sickle cell disease. Science translational medicine Lattanzi, A., Camarena, J., Lahiri, P., Segal, H., Srifa, W., Vakulskas, C. A., Frock, R. L., Kenrick, J., Lee, C., Talbott, N., Skowronski, J., Cromer, M. K., Charlesworth, C. T., Bak, R. O., Mantri, S., Bao, G., DiGiusto, D., Tisdale, J., Wright, J. F., Bhatia, N., Roncarolo, M. G., Dever, D. P., Porteus, M. H. 2021; 13 (598)

    Abstract

    Sickle cell disease (SCD) is the most common serious monogenic disease with 300,000 births annually worldwide. SCD is an autosomal recessive disease resulting from a single point mutation in codon six of the beta-globin gene (HBB). Ex vivo beta-globin gene correction in autologous patient-derived hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) may potentially provide a curative treatment for SCD. We previously developed a CRISPR-Cas9 gene targeting strategy that uses high-fidelity Cas9 precomplexed with chemically modified guide RNAs to induce recombinant adeno-associated virus serotype 6 (rAAV6)-mediated HBB gene correction of the SCD-causing mutation in HSPCs. Here, we demonstrate the preclinical feasibility, efficacy, and toxicology of HBB gene correction in plerixafor-mobilized CD34+ cells from healthy and SCD patient donors (gcHBB-SCD). We achieved up to 60% HBB allelic correction in clinical-scale gcHBB-SCD manufacturing. After transplant into immunodeficient NSG mice, 20% gene correction was achieved with multilineage engraftment. The long-term safety, tumorigenicity, and toxicology study demonstrated no evidence of abnormal hematopoiesis, genotoxicity, or tumorigenicity from the engrafted gcHBB-SCD drug product. Together, these preclinical data support the safety, efficacy, and reproducibility of this gene correction strategy for initiation of a phase 1/2 clinical trial in patients with SCD.

    View details for DOI 10.1126/scitranslmed.abf2444

    View details for PubMedID 34135108

  • Hergen Spits-A legend at the top of his career. Allergy Mjosberg, J., Roncarolo, M. G., Blom, B. 2021

    View details for DOI 10.1111/all.14788

    View details for PubMedID 33751599

  • BHLHE40 Regulates IL-10 and IFN-γ Production in T Cells but Does Not Interfere With Human Type 1 Regulatory T Cell Differentiation Frontiers in Immunology Uyeda, M. J., Freeborn, R. A., Cieniewicz, B., Romano, R., Chen, P. P., Liu, J. M., Thomas, B., Lee, E., Cepika, A., Bacchetta, R., Roncarolo, M. 2021

    View details for DOI 10.3389/fimmu.2021.683680

  • InsB9-23 Gene Transfer To Hepatocytes-Based Combined Therapy Abrogates Recurrence of Type-1 Diabetes After Islet Transplantation. Diabetes Russo, F., Citro, A., Squeri, G., Sanvito, F., Monti, P., Gregori, S., Roncarolo, M. G., Annoni, A. 2020

    Abstract

    The induction of antigen (Ag)-specific tolerance represents a therapeutic option for autoimmune diabetes. We demonstrated that administration of lentiviral vector enabling expression of insulinB9-23 (LV.InsB) in hepatocytes, arrests beta cell destruction in pre-diabetic NOD mice, by generating InsB9-23-specific FoxP3+T regulatory cells (Tregs). LV.InsB in combination with a suboptimal dose of anti-CD3 mAb (combined therapy, 1X5g CT5) reverts diabetes and prevents recurrence of autoimmunity following islets transplantation in 50% of NOD mice. We investigated whether CT optimization could lead to abrogation of recurrence of autoimmunity. Therefore, allo-islets were transplanted after optimized CT tolerogenic conditioning (1X25g CT25). Diabetic NOD mice conditioned with CT25 when glycaemia was <500mg/dL, remained normoglycaemic for 100 days after allo-islets transplantation, displayed reduced insulitis, but independently from the graft. Accordingly, cured mice showed T cell unresponsiveness to InsB9-23 stimulation and increased Tregs frequency in islets infiltration and pancreatic LN. Additional studies revealed a complex mechanism of Ag-specific immune regulation driven by CT25, in which both Tregs and PDL1 co-stimulation cooperate to control diabetogenic cells, while transplanted islets play a crucial role, although transient, recruiting diabetogenic cells. Therefore, CT25 before allo-islets transplantation represents an Ag-specific immunotherapy to resolve autoimmune diabetes in the presence of residual endogenous beta cell mass.

    View details for DOI 10.2337/db19-1249

    View details for PubMedID 33122392

  • Celebrating 20 years of FOCIS. Science immunology Roncarolo, M. G., Anderson, M. S. 2020; 5 (52)

    View details for DOI 10.1126/sciimmunol.abe8102

    View details for PubMedID 33037068

  • Gene Therapy for Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome: History, New Vectors, Future Directions. The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology Ferrua, F., Marangoni, F., Aiuti, A., Roncarolo, M. G. 2020

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jaci.2020.06.018

    View details for PubMedID 32623069

  • A beta T-Cell/CD19 B-Cell Depleted Haploidentical Stem Cell Transplantation: A New Platform for Curing Rare and Monogenic Disorders Bertaina, A., Bacchetta, R., Lewis, D. B., Grimm, P. C., Shah, A. J., Agarwal, R., Concepcion, W., Czechowicz, A., Bhatia, N., Lahiri, P., Weinberg, K. I., Parkman, R., Porteus, M., Roncarolo, M. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2020: S288

    View details for Web of Science ID 000516887900438

  • Early Epigenetic Immune Quantification Following Alpha/Beta T-Cell/CD19 B-Cell Depleted Haploidentical Stem Cell Transplant Correlates with CD4+T Cell Recovery at Day+100 Mayers, M., Schulze, J., Barbarito, G., Lakshmanan, U., Parkman, R., Weinberg, K. I., Chu, J., Agarwal, R., Roncarolo, M., Sachsenmaier, C., Bacchetta, R., Bertaina, A. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2020: S305

    View details for Web of Science ID 000516887900465

  • Human-engineered Treg-like cells suppress FOXP3-deficient T cells but preserve adaptive immune responses in vivo. Clinical & translational immunology Sato, Y. n., Passerini, L. n., Piening, B. D., Uyeda, M. J., Goodwin, M. n., Gregori, S. n., Snyder, M. P., Bertaina, A. n., Roncarolo, M. G., Bacchetta, R. n. 2020; 9 (11): e1214

    Abstract

    Genetic or acquired defects in FOXP3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) play a key role in many immune-mediated diseases including immune dysregulation polyendocrinopathy, enteropathy, X-linked (IPEX) syndrome. Previously, we demonstrated CD4+ T cells from healthy donors and IPEX patients can be converted into functional Treg-like cells by lentiviral transfer of FOXP3 (CD4LVFOXP3). These CD4LVFOXP3 cells have potent regulatory function, suggesting their potential as an innovative therapeutic. Here, we present molecular and preclinical in vivo data supporting CD4LVFOXP3 cell clinical progression.The molecular characterisation of CD4LVFOXP3 cells included flow cytometry, qPCR, RNA-seq and TCR-seq. The in vivo suppressive function of CD4LVFOXP3 cells was assessed in xenograft-versus-host disease (xeno-GvHD) and FOXP3-deficient IPEX-like humanised mouse models. The safety of CD4LVFOXP3 cells was evaluated using peripheral blood (PB) humanised (hu)- mice testing their impact on immune response against pathogens, and immune surveillance against tumor antigens.We demonstrate that the conversion of CD4+ T cells to CD4LVFOXP3 cells leads to specific transcriptional changes as compared to CD4+ T-cell transduction in the absence of FOXP3, including upregulation of Treg-related genes. Furthermore, we observe specific preservation of a polyclonal TCR repertoire during in vitro cell production. Both allogeneic and autologous CD4LVFOXP3 cells protect from xeno-GvHD after two sequential infusions of effector T cells. CD4LVFOXP3 cells prevent hyper-proliferation of CD4+ memory T cells in the FOXP3-deficient IPEX-like hu-mice. CD4LVFOXP3 cells do not impede in vivo expansion of antigen-primed T cells or tumor clearance in the PB hu-mice.These data support the clinical readiness of CD4LVFOXP3 cells to treat IPEX syndrome and other immune-mediated diseases caused by insufficient or dysfunctional FOXP3+ Tregs.

    View details for DOI 10.1002/cti2.1214

    View details for PubMedID 33304583

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC7688376

  • Engineered type 1 regulatory T cells designed for clinical use kill primary pediatric acute myeloid leukemia cells Haematologica Cieniewicz, B., Uyeda, M. J., Chen, P. P., Sayitoglu, E. C., Liu, J. M., Andolfi, G., Greenthal, K., Bertaina, A., Gregori, S., Bacchetta, R., Lacayo, N. J., Cepika, A., Roncarolo, M. 2020

    View details for DOI 10.3324/haematol.2020.263129

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