Transplant

Cell culture and mouse studies suggest transient overexpression of Bcl-XL in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) ex vivo could help improve outcomes of HSC transplants in cancer patients. In an assay of etoposide-induced apoptosis in mouse-derived bone marrow cells enriched with hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs), a non-integrating adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector encoding Bcl-XL decreased apoptosis compared with a vector encoding an inactive fluorescent protein. In a mouse model of HSCT, transplantation with the Bcl-XL-overexpressing mouse HSPCs increased engraftment compared with transplantation of HSPCs with normal expression of Bcl-XL. Next steps could include testing the Bcl-XL-overexpressing cells in animal models of cancer and hematological diseases...