Abstract
Lentiviral-mediated β-globin gene transfer successfully treated β-thalassemic mice. Based on this result, clinical trials were initiated. To date, however, no study has investigated the efficacy of gene therapy in relation to the nature of the different β-globin mutations found in patients. Most mutations can be classified as β
0
or β
+
, based on the amount of β-globin protein produced. Therefore, we propose that a screening
in vitro
is necessary to verify the efficacy of gene transfer prior to treatment of individual patients. We used a two-phase liquid culture system to expand and differentiate erythroid progenitor cells (ErPCs) transduced with lentiviral vectors. We propose the use of this system to test the efficiency of lentiviral vectors carrying the human β-globin gene, to correct the phenotype of ErPCs from patients preparing for gene therapy. This new approach might have profound implications for designing gene therapy and for understanding the genotype/phenotype variability observed in Cooley’s anemia patients.