title: In vivo genome editing improves muscle function in a mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
abstract: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a devastating disease affecting about 1 out of 5000 male births and caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene. Genome editing has the potential to restore expression of a modified dystrophin gene from the native locus to modulate disease progression. In this study, adeno-associated virus was used to deliver the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas9 system to the mdx mouse model of DMD to remove the mutated exon 23 from the dystrophin gene. This includes local and systemic delivery to adult mice and systemic delivery to neonatal mice. Exon 23 deletion by CRISPR-Cas9 resulted in expression of the modified dystrophin gene, partial recovery of functional dystrophin protein in skeletal myofibers and cardiac muscle, improvement of muscle biochemistry, and significant enhancement of muscle force. This work establishes CRISPR-Cas9-based genome editing as a potential therapy to treat DMD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. Center for Genomic and Computational Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.
authors.forename: Chady H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Hakim
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. Center for Genomic and Computational Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: David G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Ousterout
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. Center for Genomic and Computational Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Pratiksha I
authors.initials: PI
authors.lastname: Thakore
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. Center for Genomic and Computational Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Eirik A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Moreb
authors.affiliation: Gene Therapy Center, Departments of Genetics, Biochemistry and Biophysics, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Ruth M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Castellanos Rivera
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. Center for Genomic and Computational Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Sarina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Madhavan
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.
authors.forename: Xiufang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA. Society of Fellows, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: F Ann
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Ran
authors.affiliation: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA. Graduate Program in Biophysics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Winston X
authors.initials: WX
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Gene Therapy Center, Departments of Genetics, Biochemistry and Biophysics, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Aravind
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Asokan
authors.affiliation: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA. McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA. Department of Neurology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.
authors.forename: Dongsheng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. Center for Genomic and Computational Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA. charles.gersbach@duke.edu.
authors.forename: Charles A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Gersbach
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D064113:CRISPR-Cas Systems; D064112:Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats; D000229:Dependovirus; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D016189:Dystrophin / Q000235:genetics*; D005091:Exons / Q000235:genetics*; D015316:Genetic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D018101:Mice, Inbred mdx; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism*; D020388:Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy*; D017384:Sequence Deletion
chemical_list: D016189:Dystrophin; C085339:apo-dystrophin 1