Lack of Genotoxicity due to Foamy Virus Vector Integration in Human iPSCs

Integrating vectors can lead to the dysregulation of nearby chromosomal genes, with important consequences for clinical trials and cellular engineering. This includes the retroviral and lentiviral vectors commonly used for deriving induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). We previously used integrating foamy virus (FV) vectors expressing OCT4, SOX2, MYC, and KLF4 to reprogram osteogenesis imperfecta mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Here we have studied the effects of 10 FV vector proviruses on neighboring gene expression in four iPSC lines and their corresponding iPSC-derived mesenchymal stem cells (iMSCs). Gene expression profiles in these iPSC lines showed that none of the 38 genes within 300 kb up- or downstream of integrated proviruses had a significant difference in mRNA levels, including 5 genes with proviruses in their transcription units. In the iMSCs derived from these iPSCs, the same type of analysis showed a single dysregulated transcript out of 46 genes found near proviruses. This frequency of dysregulation was similar to that of genes lacking nearby proviruses, so it may have been due to interclonal variation and/or measurement inaccuracies. While the number of integration sites examined in this paper is limited, our results suggest that integrated FV proviruses do not impact the expression of chromosomal genes in pluripotent human stem cells or their differentiated derivatives. This interpretation is consistent with previous reports that FV vectors have minimal genotoxicity, even when integrating near or within genes.