Department of Neurology, First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China.
HuidaGene Therapeutics Inc., Shanghai, China.
Nat Commun. 2024 Jul 15;15(1):5927. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-50340-x.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) affecting 1 in 3500-5000 live male newborns is the frequently fatal genetic disease resulted from various mutations in DMD gene encoding dystrophin protein. About 70% of DMD-causing mutations are exon deletion leading to frameshift of open reading frame and dystrophin deficiency. To facilitate translating human DMD-targeting CRISPR therapeutics into patients, we herein establish a genetically humanized mouse model of DMD by replacing exon 50 and 51 of mouse Dmd gene with human exon 50 sequence. This humanized mouse model recapitulats patient's DMD phenotypes of dystrophin deficiency and muscle dysfunction. Furthermore, we target splicing sites in human exon 50 with adenine base editor to induce exon skipping and robustly restored dystrophin expression in heart, tibialis anterior and diaphragm muscles. Importantly, systemic delivery of base editor via adeno-associated virus in the humanized male mouse model improves the muscle function of DMD mice to the similar level of wildtype ones, indicating the therapeutic efficacy of base editing strategy in treating most of DMD types with exon deletion or point mutations via exon-skipping induction.
杜氏肌营养不良症(DMD)影响每 3500-5000 名活产男婴中的 1 名,是一种由肌营养不良蛋白编码基因 DMD 中的各种突变引起的常致命遗传疾病。大约 70%的 DMD 致病突变是外显子缺失导致开放阅读框移码和肌营养不良蛋白缺失。为了促进将人类 DMD 靶向 CRISPR 治疗方法转化为患者,我们通过用人类外显子 50 序列替换小鼠 Dmd 基因的外显子 50 和 51,建立了 DMD 的基因人源化小鼠模型。该人源化小鼠模型重现了患者肌营养不良蛋白缺失和肌肉功能障碍的 DMD 表型。此外,我们针对人类外显子 50 的剪接位点使用腺嘌呤碱基编辑器诱导外显子跳跃,在心脏、胫骨前肌和膈肌中强烈恢复肌营养不良蛋白的表达。重要的是,通过腺相关病毒在人源化雄性小鼠模型中系统递送碱基编辑器,可将 DMD 小鼠的肌肉功能提高到与野生型相似的水平,表明通过外显子跳跃诱导,碱基编辑策略对大多数外显子缺失或点突变的 DMD 类型具有治疗效果。