Year 1

Our group works on developing methods for successful transplantation of blood stem cells to treat fetuses with genetic disorders such as sickle cell disease or thalassemia. In this grant, we are using novel stem cells that will differentiate into blood-forming cells and other techniques to improve the “engraftment” of these cells. This year, we focused on using a new technique that creates “space” in the bone marrow of the recipient using an antibody (ACK2) to deplete the host’s blood stem cells. In a mouse model, we showed that this antibody is very effective is improving the engraftment of transplanted blood stem cells. In fact, the treatment is more effective in the fetal environment than the adult. These findings were recently published and we are planning to use this strategy in the monkey model as a step toward clinical applications. We are also working on transplanting human blood stem cells into immunodeficient mouse fetuses to understand whether different sources of stem cells vary in their ability to make blood cells in this setting.