Antiviral effects of autologous CD4 T cells genetically modified with a conditionally replicating lentiviral vector expressing long antisense to HIV

P Tebas, D Stein, G Binder-Scholl… - Blood, The Journal …, 2013 - ashpublications.org
P Tebas, D Stein, G Binder-Scholl, R Mukherjee, T Brady, T Rebello, L Humeau, M Kalos…
Blood, The Journal of the American Society of Hematology, 2013ashpublications.org
We report the safety and tolerability of 87 infusions of lentiviral vector–modified autologous
CD4 T cells (VRX496-T; trade name, Lexgenleucel-T) in 17 HIV patients with well-controlled
viremia. Antiviral effects were studied during analytic treatment interruption in a subset of 13
patients. VRX496-T was associated with a decrease in viral load set points in 6 of 8 subjects
(P=. 08). In addition, A→ G transitions were enriched in HIV sequences after infusion, which
is consistent with a model in which transduced CD4 T cells exert antisense-mediated …
Abstract
We report the safety and tolerability of 87 infusions of lentiviral vector–modified autologous CD4 T cells (VRX496-T; trade name, Lexgenleucel-T) in 17 HIV patients with well-controlled viremia. Antiviral effects were studied during analytic treatment interruption in a subset of 13 patients. VRX496-T was associated with a decrease in viral load set points in 6 of 8 subjects (P = .08). In addition, A → G transitions were enriched in HIV sequences after infusion, which is consistent with a model in which transduced CD4 T cells exert antisense-mediated genetic pressure on HIV during infection. Engraftment of vector-modified CD4 T cells was measured in gut-associated lymphoid tissue and was correlated with engraftment in blood. The engraftment half-life in the blood was approximately 5 weeks, with stable persistence in some patients for up to 5 years. Conditional replication of VRX496 was detected periodically through 1 year after infusion. No evidence of clonal selection of lentiviral vector–transduced T cells or integration enrichment near oncogenes was detected. This is the first demonstration that gene-modified cells can exert genetic pressure on HIV. We conclude that gene-modified T cells have the potential to decrease the fitness of HIV-1 and conditionally replicative lentiviral vectors have a promising safety profile in T cells. This study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as number NCT00295477.
ashpublications.org