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标题：Exon-skipping antisense oligonucleotides for cystic fibrosis therapy
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作者：Young Jin Kim ; Nicole Sivetz ; Jessica Layne 等
期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：2022
卷号：119
期号：3
DOI：10.1073/pnas.2114858118
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：Significance Cystic fibrosis (CF) is caused by mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator ( CFTR) gene, which can lead to respiratory failure. To date, there is no treatment for CF caused by the CFTR-W1282X mutation located on CFTR exon 23. Nonsense-mediated messenger RNA (mRNA) decay (NMD) degrades the CFTR-W1282X mRNA, leading to low levels of functional CFTR protein. We developed a cocktail of two antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) that promotes the skipping of exon 23 of the CFTR-W1282X mRNA. The resulting mRNA is NMD resistant and preserves the reading frame. Its translation produces CFTR-Δex23 protein that improves CFTR activity in human bronchial epithelial cells. Our results set the stage for developing an ASO therapy for CF caused by the W1282X mutation. Mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator ( CFTR) gene cause cystic fibrosis (CF), and the CFTR-W1282X nonsense mutation causes a severe form of CF. Although Trikafta and other CFTR-modulation therapies benefit most CF patients, targeted therapy for patients with the W1282X mutation is lacking. The CFTR-W1282X protein has residual activity but is expressed at a very low level due to nonsense-mediated messenger RNA (mRNA) decay (NMD). NMD-suppression therapy and read-through therapy are actively being researched for CFTR nonsense mutants. NMD suppression could increase the mutant CFTR mRNA, and read-through therapies may increase the levels of full-length CFTR protein. However, these approaches have limitations and potential side effects: because the NMD machinery also regulates the expression of many normal mRNAs, broad inhibition of the pathway is not desirable, and read-through drugs are inefficient partly because the mutant mRNA template is subject to NMD. To bypass these issues, we pursued an exon-skipping antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) strategy to achieve gene-specific NMD evasion. A cocktail of two splice-site–targeting ASOs induced the expression of CFTR mRNA without the premature-termination-codon–containing exon 23 (CFTR-Δex23), which is an in-frame exon. Treatment of human bronchial epithelial cells with this cocktail of ASOs that target the splice sites flanking exon 23 results in efficient skipping of exon 23 and an increase in CFTR-Δex23 protein. The splice-switching ASO cocktail increases the CFTR-mediated chloride current in human bronchial epithelial cells. Our results set the stage for developing an allele-specific therapy for CF caused by the W1282X mutation.
关键词：encystic fibrosisantisense oligonucleotidenonsense mutationmRNA splicingexon skipping