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Byrnes AE, Roudnicky F, Gogineni A, Soung AL, Xiong M, Hayne M, Heaster-Ford T, Shatz-Binder W, Dominguez SL, Imperio J, Gierke S, Roberts J, Guo J, Ghosh S, Yu C, Roose-Girma M, Elstrott J, Easton A, Hoogenraad CC. A fluorescent splice-switching mouse model enables high-throughput, sensitive quantification of antisense oligonucleotide delivery and activity. CELL REPORTS METHODS 2024; 4:100673. [PMID: 38171361 PMCID: PMC10831955 DOI: 10.1016/j.crmeth.2023.100673] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2023] [Revised: 10/23/2023] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024]
Abstract
While antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) are used in the clinic, therapeutic development is hindered by the inability to assay ASO delivery and activity in vivo. Accordingly, we developed a dual-fluorescence, knockin mouse model that constitutively expresses mKate2 and an engineered EGFP that is alternatively spliced in the presence of ASO to induce expression. We first examined free ASO activity in the brain following intracerebroventricular injection revealing EGFP splice-switching is both ASO concentration and time dependent in major central nervous system cell types. We then assayed the impact of lipid nanoparticle delivery on ASO activity after intravenous administration. Robust EGFP fluorescence was observed in the liver and EGFP+ cells were successfully isolated using fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Together, these results show the utility of this animal model in quantifying both cell-type- and organ-specific ASO delivery, which can be used to advance ASO therapeutics for many disease indications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy E Byrnes
- Department of Neuroscience, Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Filip Roudnicky
- Pharmaceutical Research and Early Development, Roche Innovation Center Basel, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Basel, Switzerland
| | - Alvin Gogineni
- Department of Translational Imaging, Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Allison L Soung
- Department of Neuroscience, Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Monica Xiong
- Department of Neuroscience, Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Margaret Hayne
- Department of Neuroscience, Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Tiffany Heaster-Ford
- Department of Translational Imaging, Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | | | - Sara L Dominguez
- Department of Neuroscience, Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Jose Imperio
- Department of Neuroscience, Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Sarah Gierke
- Department of Pathology, Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA; Center for Advanced Light Microscopy, Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Jasmine Roberts
- Department of Neuroscience, Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Jinglong Guo
- Department of Cancer Immunology, Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Soumitra Ghosh
- Department of Neuroscience, Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Charles Yu
- Molecular Biology, Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | | | - Justin Elstrott
- Department of Translational Imaging, Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Amy Easton
- Department of Neuroscience, Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Casper C Hoogenraad
- Department of Neuroscience, Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA.
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Lessl AL, Pöhmerer J, Lin Y, Wilk U, Höhn M, Hörterer E, Wagner E, Lächelt U. mCherry on Top: A Positive Read-Out Cellular Platform for Screening DMD Exon Skipping Xenopeptide-PMO Conjugates. Bioconjug Chem 2023; 34:2263-2274. [PMID: 37991502 PMCID: PMC10739591 DOI: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.3c00408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2023] [Revised: 11/07/2023] [Accepted: 11/08/2023] [Indexed: 11/23/2023]
Abstract
Phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PMOs) are a special type of antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) that can be used as therapeutic modulators of pre-mRNA splicing. Application of nucleic-acid-based therapeutics generally requires suitable delivery systems to enable efficient transport to intended tissues and intracellular targets. To identify potent formulations of PMOs, we established a new in vitro-in vivo screening platform based on mdx exon 23 skipping. Here, a new in vitro positive read-out system (mCherry-DMDEx23) is presented that is sensitive toward the PMO(Ex23) sequence mediating DMD exon 23 skipping and, in this model, functional mCherry expression. After establishment of the reporter system in HeLa cells, a set of amphiphilic, ionizable xenopeptides (XPs) was screened in order to identify potent carriers for PMO delivery. The identified best-performing PMO formulation with high splice-switching activity at nanomolar concentrations in vitro was then translated to in vivo trials, where exon 23 skipping in different organs of healthy BALB/c mice was confirmed. The predesigned in vitro-in vivo workflow enables evaluation of PMO(Ex23) carriers without change of the PMO sequence and formulation composition. Furthermore, the identified PMO-XP conjugate formulation was found to induce highly potent exon skipping in vitro and redistributed PMO activity in different organs in vivo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna-Lina Lessl
- Pharmaceutical
Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy, LMU
Munich, Butenandtstrasse 5-13, 81377 Munich, Germany
| | - Jana Pöhmerer
- Pharmaceutical
Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy, LMU
Munich, Butenandtstrasse 5-13, 81377 Munich, Germany
| | - Yi Lin
- Pharmaceutical
Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy, LMU
Munich, Butenandtstrasse 5-13, 81377 Munich, Germany
| | - Ulrich Wilk
- Pharmaceutical
Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy, LMU
Munich, Butenandtstrasse 5-13, 81377 Munich, Germany
| | - Miriam Höhn
- Pharmaceutical
Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy, LMU
Munich, Butenandtstrasse 5-13, 81377 Munich, Germany
| | - Elisa Hörterer
- Pharmaceutical
Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy, LMU
Munich, Butenandtstrasse 5-13, 81377 Munich, Germany
| | - Ernst Wagner
- Pharmaceutical
Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy, LMU
Munich, Butenandtstrasse 5-13, 81377 Munich, Germany
- Center
for NanoScience (CeNS), LMU Munich, 80799 Munich, Germany
| | - Ulrich Lächelt
- Pharmaceutical
Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy, LMU
Munich, Butenandtstrasse 5-13, 81377 Munich, Germany
- Center
for NanoScience (CeNS), LMU Munich, 80799 Munich, Germany
- Department
of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of
Vienna, Josef-Holaubek-Platz 2, 1090 Vienna, Austria
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