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Love KS, Johnstone CP, Peterman EL, Gaglione S, Galloway KE. Model-guided design of microRNA-based gene circuits supports precise dosage of transgenic cargoes into diverse primary cells. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.06.25.600629. [PMID: 38979370 PMCID: PMC11230401 DOI: 10.1101/2024.06.25.600629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/10/2024]
Abstract
To realize the potential of engineered cells in therapeutic applications, transgenes must be expressed within the window of therapeutic efficacy. Differences in copy number and other sources of extrinsic noise generate variance in transgene expression and limit the performance of synthetic gene circuits. In a therapeutic context, supraphysiological expression of transgenes can compromise engineered phenotypes and lead to toxicity. To ensure a narrow range of transgene expression, we design and characterize Compact microRNA-Mediated Attenuator of Noise and Dosage (ComMAND), a single-transcript, microRNA-based incoherent feedforward loop. We experimentally tune the ComMAND output profile, and we model the system to explore additional tuning strategies. By comparing ComMAND to two-gene implementations, we highlight the precise control afforded by the single-transcript architecture, particularly at relatively low copy numbers. We show that ComMAND tightly regulates transgene expression from lentiviruses and precisely controls expression in primary human T cells, primary rat neurons, primary mouse embryonic fibroblasts, and human induced pluripotent stem cells. Finally, ComMAND effectively sets levels of the clinically relevant transgenes FMRP1 and FXN within a narrow window. Together, ComMAND is a compact tool well-suited to precisely specify expression of therapeutic cargoes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kasey S. Love
- Department of Biological Engineering, MIT, 25 Ames St., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | | | - Emma L. Peterman
- Department of Chemical Engineering, MIT, 25 Ames St., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Stephanie Gaglione
- Department of Chemical Engineering, MIT, 25 Ames St., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Kate E. Galloway
- Department of Chemical Engineering, MIT, 25 Ames St., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
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Brlek P, Bulić L, Bračić M, Projić P, Škaro V, Shah N, Shah P, Primorac D. Implementing Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) in Clinical Practice: Advantages, Challenges, and Future Perspectives. Cells 2024; 13:504. [PMID: 38534348 DOI: 10.3390/cells13060504] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2024] [Revised: 03/04/2024] [Accepted: 03/11/2024] [Indexed: 03/28/2024] Open
Abstract
The integration of whole genome sequencing (WGS) into all aspects of modern medicine represents the next step in the evolution of healthcare. Using this technology, scientists and physicians can observe the entire human genome comprehensively, generating a plethora of new sequencing data. Modern computational analysis entails advanced algorithms for variant detection, as well as complex models for classification. Data science and machine learning play a crucial role in the processing and interpretation of results, using enormous databases and statistics to discover new and support current genotype-phenotype correlations. In clinical practice, this technology has greatly enabled the development of personalized medicine, approaching each patient individually and in accordance with their genetic and biochemical profile. The most propulsive areas include rare disease genomics, oncogenomics, pharmacogenomics, neonatal screening, and infectious disease genomics. Another crucial application of WGS lies in the field of multi-omics, working towards the complete integration of human biomolecular data. Further technological development of sequencing technologies has led to the birth of third and fourth-generation sequencing, which include long-read sequencing, single-cell genomics, and nanopore sequencing. These technologies, alongside their continued implementation into medical research and practice, show great promise for the future of the field of medicine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petar Brlek
- St. Catherine Specialty Hospital, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
- International Center for Applied Biological Research, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
- School of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
| | - Luka Bulić
- St. Catherine Specialty Hospital, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Matea Bračić
- St. Catherine Specialty Hospital, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Petar Projić
- International Center for Applied Biological Research, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
| | | | - Nidhi Shah
- Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebannon, NH 03766, USA
| | - Parth Shah
- Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebannon, NH 03766, USA
| | - Dragan Primorac
- St. Catherine Specialty Hospital, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
- International Center for Applied Biological Research, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
- School of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
- Medical School, University of Split, 21000 Split, Croatia
- Eberly College of Science, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16802, USA
- The Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences, University of New Haven, West Haven, CT 06516, USA
- REGIOMED Kliniken, 96450 Coburg, Germany
- Medical School, University of Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
- Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
- Medical School, University of Mostar, 88000 Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
- National Forensic Sciences University, Gujarat 382007, India
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Dadush A, Merdler-Rabinowicz R, Gorelik D, Feiglin A, Buchumenski I, Pal LR, Ben-Aroya S, Ruppin E, Levanon EY. DNA and RNA base editors can correct the majority of pathogenic single nucleotide variants. NPJ Genom Med 2024; 9:16. [PMID: 38409211 PMCID: PMC10897195 DOI: 10.1038/s41525-024-00397-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2023] [Accepted: 01/26/2024] [Indexed: 02/28/2024] Open
Abstract
The majority of human genetic diseases are caused by single nucleotide variants (SNVs) in the genome sequence. Excitingly, new genomic techniques known as base editing have opened efficient pathways to correct erroneous nucleotides. Due to reliance on deaminases, which have the capability to convert A to I(G) and C to U, the direct applicability of base editing might seem constrained in terms of the range of mutations that can be reverted. In this evaluation, we assess the potential of DNA and RNA base editing methods for treating human genetic diseases. Our findings indicate that 62% of pathogenic SNVs found within genes can be amended by base editing; 30% are G>A and T>C SNVs that can be corrected by DNA base editing, and most of them by RNA base editing as well, and 29% are C>T and A>G SNVs that can be corrected by DNA base editing directed to the complementary strand. For each, we also present several factors that affect applicability such as bystander and off-target occurrences. For cases where editing the mismatched nucleotide is not feasible, we introduce an approach that calculates the optimal substitution of the deleterious amino acid with a new amino acid, further expanding the scope of applicability. As personalized therapy is rapidly advancing, our demonstration that most SNVs can be treated by base editing is of high importance. The data provided will serve as a comprehensive resource for those seeking to design therapeutic base editors and study their potential in curing genetic diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ariel Dadush
- Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
- The Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Rona Merdler-Rabinowicz
- Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
- The Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
- Cancer Data Science Lab, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - David Gorelik
- Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
- The Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Ariel Feiglin
- Skip Therapeutics Ltd, 2 Ilan Ramon St, Ness Ziona, Israel
| | | | - Lipika R Pal
- Cancer Data Science Lab, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Shay Ben-Aroya
- Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Eytan Ruppin
- Cancer Data Science Lab, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Erez Y Levanon
- Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
- The Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
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Stefanski KM, Li GC, Marinko JT, Carter BD, Samuels DC, Sanders CR. How T118M peripheral myelin protein 22 predisposes humans to Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. J Biol Chem 2023; 299:102839. [PMID: 36581210 PMCID: PMC9860121 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2022.102839] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2022] [Revised: 12/19/2022] [Accepted: 12/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Data from gnomAD indicate that a missense mutation encoding the T118M variation in human peripheral myelin protein 22 (PMP22) is found in roughly one of every 75 genomes of western European lineage (1:120 in the overall human population). It is unusual among PMP22 variants that cause Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease in that it is not 100% penetrant. Here, we conducted cellular and biophysical studies to determine why T118M PMP22 predisposes humans to CMT, but with only incomplete penetrance. We found that T118M PMP22 is prone to mistraffic but differs even from the WT protein in that increased expression levels do not result in a reduction in trafficking efficiency. Moreover, the T118M mutant exhibits a reduced tendency to form large intracellular aggregates relative to other disease mutants and even WT PMP22. NMR spectroscopy revealed that the structure and dynamics of T118M PMP22 resembled those of WT. These results show that the main consequence of T118M PMP22 in WT/T118M heterozygous individuals is a reduction in surface-trafficked PMP22, unaccompanied by formation of toxic intracellular aggregates. This explains the incomplete disease penetrance and the mild neuropathy observed for WT/T118M CMT cases. We also analyzed BioVU, a biobank linked to deidentified electronic medical records, and found a statistically robust association of the T118M mutation with the occurrence of long and/or repeated episodes of carpal tunnel syndrome. Collectively, our results illuminate the cellular effects of the T118M PMP22 variation leading to CMT disease and indicate a second disorder for which it is a risk factor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine M Stefanski
- Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Center for Structural Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Geoffrey C Li
- Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Center for Structural Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Justin T Marinko
- Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Center for Structural Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Bruce D Carter
- Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - David C Samuels
- Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
| | - Charles R Sanders
- Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Center for Structural Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
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Chen X, Xu Z, Lei X, Liang H, Wu F, Chen R, Guo Y, Xiong L. Amplicon sequencing-based carrier screening for 170 monogenic disorders among children with abnormal LC-MS/MS results. Clin Chim Acta 2023; 539:274-277. [PMID: 36574877 DOI: 10.1016/j.cca.2022.12.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2022] [Revised: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 12/22/2022] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has been suggested as a second-tier diagnostic test for newborn screening, which could help identify the carrier status of hundreds monogenic disorders with wider spectrum and earlier stage. METHODS Among the 1087 children (age from 27 min to 14 years old) underwent liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), 290 individuals who had at least one abnormal value of LC-MS/MS measurements were sent for amplicon sequencing-based carrier screening (targeting 141 genes for 170 monogenic disorders). Multiplex polymerase chain reaction was used for amplicon capture and library preparation, the NextSeq 500 NGS platform (Illumina PE150) was used for sequencing. The identified clinical significant variants were further validated by Sanger sequencing. RESULTS Only 89 children carry none of clinical significant variants, other 201 individuals carry 1-4 variants in 63 genes (132 types; 317 in total: 171 pathogenic, 37 likely pathogenic, 29 variants of unknown significance, and 80 disease-associated functional polymorphisms). Besides the three missing samples with 4 variants, 91.1 % of identified variants (285 variants in 54 genes) were completely validated by Sanger sequencing. The most common genetic variants were in UGT1A1, GJB2, PAH, G6PD, and SLC25A13 (top 5 genes), which corresponding to Gilbert/Crigler-Najjar symdrome (n = 89), autosomal recessive hearing loss type 1A (n = 58), phenylketonuria (n = 12), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenease deficiency (n = 11) and Citrin deficiency (n = 9). More than 42 children present higher phenylalanine in LC-MS/MS, but only 12 of them were identified to carry clinical significant variants in PAH gene. CONCLUSION The amplicon sequencing-based carrier screening in our study could further clarify the abnormal LC-MS/MS results, which could also discover more monogenic disorders uncovered by LC-MS/MS screening.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xu Chen
- Central Laboratory, Baoan Women's and Children's Hospital, Shenzhen, China; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Birth Defects Research, Shenzhen, China; Institute of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Baoan Women's and Children's Hospital, Shenzhen, China
| | - Zhongyao Xu
- Shenzhen Uni-medica Technology Co., Ltd, Shenzhen, China
| | - Xianghua Lei
- Shenzhen Uni-medica Technology Co., Ltd, Shenzhen, China
| | - Hui Liang
- Central Laboratory, Baoan Women's and Children's Hospital, Shenzhen, China; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Birth Defects Research, Shenzhen, China
| | - Feng Wu
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Ruoqing Chen
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yongchao Guo
- Shenzhen Uni-medica Technology Co., Ltd, Shenzhen, China
| | - Likuan Xiong
- Central Laboratory, Baoan Women's and Children's Hospital, Shenzhen, China; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Birth Defects Research, Shenzhen, China.
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Clarke LA, Amaral MD. What Can RNA-Based Therapy Do for Monogenic Diseases? Pharmaceutics 2023; 15:pharmaceutics15010260. [PMID: 36678889 PMCID: PMC9863139 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15010260] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2022] [Revised: 01/04/2023] [Accepted: 01/09/2023] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
The use of RNA-based approaches to treat monogenic diseases (i.e., hereditary disorders caused by mutations in single genes) has been developed on different fronts. One approach uses small antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) to modulate RNA processing at various stages; namely, to enhance correct splicing, to stimulate exon skipping (to exclude premature termination codon variants), to avoid undesired messenger RNA (mRNA) transcript degradation via the nonsense-mediated decay (NMD) pathway, or to induce mRNA degradation where they encode toxic proteins (e.g., in dominant diseases). Another approach consists in administering mRNA, which, like gene therapy, is a mutation-agnostic approach with potential application to any recessive monogenic disease. This is simpler than gene therapy because instead of requiring targeting of the nucleus, the mRNA only needs to be delivered to the cytoplasm. Although very promising (as demonstrated by COVID-19 vaccines), these approaches still have potential for optimisation, namely regarding delivery efficiency, adverse drug reactions and toxicity.
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Phul S, Kuenze G, Vanoye CG, Sanders CR, George AL, Meiler J. Predicting the functional impact of KCNQ1 variants with artificial neural networks. PLoS Comput Biol 2022; 18:e1010038. [PMID: 35442947 PMCID: PMC9060377 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2021] [Revised: 05/02/2022] [Accepted: 03/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent advances in experimental and computational protein structure determination have provided access to high-quality structures for most human proteins and mutants thereof. However, linking changes in structure in protein mutants to functional impact remains an active area of method development. If successful, such methods can ultimately assist physicians in taking appropriate treatment decisions. This work presents three artificial neural network (ANN)-based predictive models that classify four key functional parameters of KCNQ1 variants as normal or dysfunctional using PSSM-based evolutionary and/or biophysical descriptors. Recent advances in predicting protein structure and variant properties with artificial intelligence (AI) rely heavily on the availability of evolutionary features and thus fail to directly assess the biophysical underpinnings of a change in structure and/or function. The central goal of this work was to develop an ANN model based on structure and physiochemical properties of KCNQ1 potassium channels that performs comparably or better than algorithms using only on PSSM-based evolutionary features. These biophysical features highlight the structure-function relationships that govern protein stability, function, and regulation. The input sensitivity algorithm incorporates the roles of hydrophobicity, polarizability, and functional densities on key functional parameters of the KCNQ1 channel. Inclusion of the biophysical features outperforms exclusive use of PSSM-based evolutionary features in predicting activation voltage dependence and deactivation time. As AI is increasingly applied to problems in biology, biophysical understanding will be critical with respect to 'explainable AI', i.e., understanding the relation of sequence, structure, and function of proteins. Our model is available at www.kcnq1predict.org.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saksham Phul
- Center for Structural Biology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
- Department of Chemistry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
| | - Georg Kuenze
- Center for Structural Biology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
- Department of Chemistry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
- Institute for Drug Discovery, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Carlos G. Vanoye
- Department of Pharmacology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
| | - Charles R. Sanders
- Center for Structural Biology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
- Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
| | - Alfred L. George
- Department of Pharmacology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
| | - Jens Meiler
- Center for Structural Biology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
- Department of Chemistry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
- Institute for Drug Discovery, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
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