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Adenosine deaminase (ADA) deficiency is associated with a fatal severe combined immunodeficiency. Because most patients do not have a suitable marrow donor, the introduction of a normal ADA gene into the patient's marrow cells is a potentially useful alternative therapy. To identify vectors that provide optimal gene expression in human hematopoietic cells, we investigated retroviral vectors containing the ADA gene under the transcriptional control of the promoter/enhancers of Moloney murine leukemia virus, the simian virus 40 early region, the cytomegalovirus immediate-early gene, the lymphotropic papovavirus, and the human beta- globin gene. ADA expression from these vectors was monitored in the ADA- human histiocytic lymphoma cell line DHL-9, and in the multipotential chronic myeloid leukemia cell line K562. ADA expression in infected K562 cells was also measured after induction of megakaryoblastic differentiation by phorbol ester, and after induction of erythroid differentiation by sodium n-butyrate or hemin. In these hematopoietic cell lines, the vectors that contained ADA controlled by either the Moloney murine leukemia virus promoter (LASN) or the cytomegalovirus promoter (LNCA) expressed ADA at much higher levels than the other vectors tested. Furthermore, in K562 cells infected with LASN and LNCA vectors, induction of terminal differentiation resulted in the same or higher level expression of ADA. These cell lines have permitted the evaluation of transduced gene expression in proliferating and differentiating hematopoietic cells that provide a model for bone marrow-targeted gene therapy.