RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Efficient Correction of the Sickle Mutation in Human Hematopoietic Stem Cells Using a Cas9 Ribonucleoprotein Complex JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 036236 DO 10.1101/036236 A1 Mark A. DeWitt A1 Wendy Magis A1 Nicolas L. Bray A1 Tianjiao Wang A1 Jennifer R. Berman A1 Fabrizia Urbinati A1 Denise P. Muñoz A1 Donald B. Kohn A1 Mark C. Walters A1 Dana Carroll A1 David K. Martin A1 Jacob E. Corn YR 2016 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/01/15/036236.abstract AB Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is a serious recessive genetic disorder caused by a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the ß-globin gene (HBB). Sickle hemoglobin polymerizes within red blood cells (RBCs), causing them to adopt an elongated “sickle” shape. Sickle RBCs damage vasculature, leading to severe symptoms, ultimately diminishing patient quality of life and reducing lifespan. Here, we use codelivery of a pre-formed Cas9 ribonucleoprotein complex (RNP) and a singlestranded DNA (ssDNA) oligonucleotide donor to drive sequence replacement at the SCD SNP in human CD34+ hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs). Corrected HSPCs from SCD patients produce less sickle hemoglobin protein and correspondingly increased wild-type hemoglobin when differentiated into erythroblasts. When injected into immunocompromised mice, treated HSPCs maintain editing long-term at therapeutically relevant levels. These results demonstrate that the Cas9 RNP/ssDNA donor approach can mediate efficient HSPC gene editing and could form the basis for treatment of SCD by autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation.