An alternative splicing modulator decreases mutant HTT and improves the molecular fingerprint in Huntington’s disease patient neurons

Krach F, Stemick J, Börstler T, Weiss A, Lingos I, Reischl S, Meixner H, Ploetz S, Farrell M, Hehr U, Kohl Z, Winner B, Winkler J (2022)

Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2022

Journal

Book Volume: 13

Pages Range: 6797

Article Number: 6797

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34419-x

Abstract

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by poly-Q expansion in the Huntingtin (HTT) protein. Here, we delineate elevated mutant HTT (mHTT) levels in patient-derived cells including fibroblasts and iPSC derived cortical neurons using mesoscale discovery (MSD) HTT assays. HD patients’ fibroblasts and cortical neurons recapitulate aberrant alternative splicing as a molecular fingerprint of HD. Branaplam is a splicing modulator currently tested in a phase II study in HD (NCT05111249). The drug lowers total HTT (tHTT) and mHTT levels in fibroblasts, iPSC, cortical progenitors, and neurons in a dose dependent manner at an IC50 consistently below 10 nM without inducing cellular toxicity. Branaplam promotes inclusion of non-annotated novel exons. Among these Branaplam-induced exons, there is a 115 bp frameshift-inducing exon in the HTT transcript. This exon is observed upon Branaplam treatment in Ctrl and HD patients leading to a profound reduction of HTT RNA and protein levels. Importantly, Branaplam ameliorates aberrant alternative splicing in HD patients’ fibroblasts and cortical neurons. These findings highlight the applicability of splicing modulators in the treatment of CAG repeat disorders and decipher their molecular effects associated with the pharmacokinetic and -dynamic properties in patient-derived cellular models.

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Involved external institutions

Evotec AG Germany (DE) Zentrum für Humangenetik Regensburg Germany (DE) Universität Regensburg Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Krach, F., Stemick, J., Börstler, T., Weiss, A., Lingos, I., Reischl, S.,... Winkler, J. (2022). An alternative splicing modulator decreases mutant HTT and improves the molecular fingerprint in Huntington’s disease patient neurons. Nature Communications, 13(1), 6797. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34419-x

MLA:

Krach, Florian, et al. "An alternative splicing modulator decreases mutant HTT and improves the molecular fingerprint in Huntington’s disease patient neurons." Nature Communications 13.1 (2022): 6797.

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