Department of Microbiology, UMass Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA.
Department of Radiology, UMass Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA.
Exp Neurol. 2024 Oct;380:114914. doi: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2024.114914. Epub 2024 Aug 4.
Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a human genetic disorder caused by variants in the NF1 gene. Plexiform neurofibromas, one of many NF1 manifestations, are benign peripheral nerve sheath tumors occurring in up to 50% of NF1 patients. A substantial fraction of NF1 pathogenetic variants are nonsense mutations, which result in the synthesis of truncated non-functional NF1 protein (neurofibromin). To date, no therapeutics have restored neurofibromin expression or addressed the consequences of this protein's absence in NF1 nonsense mutation patients, but nonsense suppression is a potential approach to the problem. Ataluren is a small molecule drug that has been shown to stimulate functional nonsense codon readthrough in several models of nonsense mutation diseases, as well as in Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients. To test ataluren's potential applicability in nonsense mutation NF1 patients, we evaluated its therapeutic effects using three treatment regimens in a previously established NF1 patient-derived (c.2041C > T; p.Arg681X) nonsense mutation mouse model. Collectively, our experiments indicate that: i) ataluren appeared to slow the growth of neurofibromas and alleviate some paralysis phenotypes, ii) female Nf1-nonsense mutation mice manifested more severe paralysis and neurofibroma phenotypes than male mice, iii) ataluren doses with apparent effectiveness were lower in female mice than in male mice, and iv) age factors also influenced ataluren's effectiveness.
神经纤维瘤病 1 型(NF1)是一种由 NF1 基因变异引起的人类遗传疾病。丛状神经纤维瘤是 NF1 的众多表现之一,是发生在多达 50%的 NF1 患者中的良性周围神经鞘肿瘤。NF1 致病变异的很大一部分是无义突变,导致截短的无功能 NF1 蛋白(神经纤维瘤蛋白)的合成。迄今为止,尚无治疗方法能够恢复神经纤维瘤蛋白的表达或解决 NF1 无义突变患者中该蛋白缺失的后果,但无义抑制是解决该问题的一种潜在方法。Ataluren 是一种小分子药物,已被证明可在几种无义突变疾病模型以及杜氏肌营养不良症患者中刺激功能性无义密码子通读。为了测试 ataluren 在 NF1 无义突变患者中的潜在适用性,我们使用三种治疗方案在先前建立的 NF1 患者来源的(c.2041C>T;p.Arg681X)无义突变小鼠模型中评估了其治疗效果。总的来说,我们的实验表明:i)ataluren 似乎可以减缓神经纤维瘤的生长并缓解一些瘫痪表型,ii)携带 NF1 无义突变的雌性小鼠比雄性小鼠表现出更严重的瘫痪和神经纤维瘤表型,iii)在雌性小鼠中,具有明显疗效的 ataluren 剂量低于雄性小鼠,iv)年龄因素也影响了 ataluren 的疗效。