Bone marrow extracellular matrix molecules improve gene transfer into human hematopoietic cells via retroviral vectors.

Direct contact between hematopoietic cells and viral packaging cell lines or other sources of stroma has been shown to increase the efficiency of retroviral-mediated gene transfer into these target cells compared with infection with viral supernatant. We have investigated the role of defined bone marrow extracellular matrix molecules (ECM) in this phenomenon. Here we report that infection of cells adhering to the carboxy-terminal 30/35-kD fragment of the fibronectin molecule (30/35 FN), which contains the alternatively spliced CS-1 cell adhesion domain, significantly increases gene transfer into hematopoietic cells. Two retroviral vectors differing in recombinant viral titer were used. Gene transfer into committed progenitor cells and long-term culture-initiating cells, an in vitro assay for human stem cells, was significantly increased when the cells were infected while adherent to 30/35 FN-coated plates compared with cells infected on BSA-coated control plates or plates coated with other bone marrow ECM molecules. Although gene transfer into committed progenitor cells and to a lesser degree into long-term culture-initiating cells was increased on intact fibronectin as well, increased gene transfer efficiency into hematopoietic cells on 30/35 FN was dependent on CS-1 sequence since infection on a similar FN fragment lacking CS-1 (42 FN) was suboptimal. 30/35 FN has previously been shown by our laboratory and other investigators to mediate adhesion of primitive murine and human hematopoietic stem cells to the hematopoietic microenvironment. Additional studies showed that neither soluble 30/35 FN nor nonspecific binding of hematopoietic cells to poly-L-lysine-coated plates had any appreciable effect on the infection efficiency of these cells. Our findings indicate that hematopoietic stem cell adhesion to specific ECM molecules alters retroviral infection efficiency. These findings should aid in the design of gene transfer protocols using hematopoietic progenitor and stem cells for somatic gene therapy.