1
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Duffy Á, Petrazzini BO, Stein D, Park JK, Forrest IS, Gibson K, Vy HM, Chen R, Márquez-Luna C, Mort M, Verbanck M, Schlessinger A, Itan Y, Cooper DN, Rocheleau G, Jordan DM, Do R. Development of a human genetics-guided priority score for 19,365 genes and 399 drug indications. Nat Genet 2024; 56:51-59. [PMID: 38172303 DOI: 10.1038/s41588-023-01609-2] [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: 12/11/2022] [Accepted: 11/13/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024]
Abstract
Studies have shown that drug targets with human genetic support are more likely to succeed in clinical trials. Hence, a tool integrating genetic evidence to prioritize drug target genes is beneficial for drug discovery. We built a genetic priority score (GPS) by integrating eight genetic features with drug indications from the Open Targets and SIDER databases. The top 0.83%, 0.28% and 0.19% of the GPS conferred a 5.3-, 9.9- and 11.0-fold increased effect of having an indication, respectively. In addition, we observed that targets in the top 0.28% of the score were 1.7-, 3.7- and 8.8-fold more likely to advance from phase I to phases II, III and IV, respectively. Complementary to the GPS, we incorporated the direction of genetic effect and drug mechanism into a directional version of the score called the GPS with direction of effect. We applied our method to 19,365 protein-coding genes and 399 drug indications and made all results available through a web portal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Áine Duffy
- The Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
| | - Ben Omega Petrazzini
- The Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
- Center for Genomic Data Analytics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
| | - David Stein
- The Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
| | - Joshua K Park
- The Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
- Medical Scientist Training Program, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
| | - Iain S Forrest
- The Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
- Medical Scientist Training Program, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
| | - Kyle Gibson
- The Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
- Medical Scientist Training Program, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
| | - Ha My Vy
- The Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
- Center for Genomic Data Analytics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
| | - Robert Chen
- The Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
- Medical Scientist Training Program, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
| | - Carla Márquez-Luna
- The Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
| | - Matthew Mort
- Institute of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | | | - Avner Schlessinger
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
| | - Yuval Itan
- The Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
- Mindich Child Health and Development Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
| | - David N Cooper
- Institute of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Ghislain Rocheleau
- The Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
- Center for Genomic Data Analytics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
| | - Daniel M Jordan
- The Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
- Center for Genomic Data Analytics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA
| | - Ron Do
- The Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA.
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA.
- Center for Genomic Data Analytics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA.
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2
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Ichikawa DM, Abdin O, Alerasool N, Kogenaru M, Mueller AL, Wen H, Giganti DO, Goldberg GW, Adams S, Spencer JM, Razavi R, Nim S, Zheng H, Gionco C, Clark FT, Strokach A, Hughes TR, Lionnet T, Taipale M, Kim PM, Noyes MB. A universal deep-learning model for zinc finger design enables transcription factor reprogramming. Nat Biotechnol 2023; 41:1117-1129. [PMID: 36702896 PMCID: PMC10421740 DOI: 10.1038/s41587-022-01624-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2021] [Accepted: 11/17/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Cys2His2 zinc finger (ZF) domains engineered to bind specific target sequences in the genome provide an effective strategy for programmable regulation of gene expression, with many potential therapeutic applications. However, the structurally intricate engagement of ZF domains with DNA has made their design challenging. Here we describe the screening of 49 billion protein-DNA interactions and the development of a deep-learning model, ZFDesign, that solves ZF design for any genomic target. ZFDesign is a modern machine learning method that models global and target-specific differences induced by a range of library environments and specifically takes into account compatibility of neighboring fingers using a novel hierarchical transformer architecture. We demonstrate the versatility of designed ZFs as nucleases as well as activators and repressors by seamless reprogramming of human transcription factors. These factors could be used to upregulate an allele of haploinsufficiency, downregulate a gain-of-function mutation or test the consequence of regulation of a single gene as opposed to the many genes that a transcription factor would normally influence.
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Affiliation(s)
- David M Ichikawa
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Osama Abdin
- Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Nader Alerasool
- Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Manjunatha Kogenaru
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - April L Mueller
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Han Wen
- Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - David O Giganti
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Gregory W Goldberg
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Samantha Adams
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Jeffrey M Spencer
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Rozita Razavi
- Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Satra Nim
- Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Hong Zheng
- Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Courtney Gionco
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Finnegan T Clark
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Alexey Strokach
- Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Timothy R Hughes
- Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Timothee Lionnet
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Mikko Taipale
- Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Philip M Kim
- Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
- Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
- Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
| | - Marcus B Noyes
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
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3
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Hopkins CE, McCormick K, Brock T, Wood M, Ruggiero S, Mcbride K, Kim C, Lawson JA, Helbig I, Bainbridge MN. Clinical variants in Caenorhabditis elegans expressing human STXBP1 reveal a novel class of pathogenic variants and classify variants of uncertain significance. GENETICS IN MEDICINE OPEN 2023; 1:100823. [PMID: 38827422 PMCID: PMC11141691 DOI: 10.1016/j.gimo.2023.100823] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2024]
Abstract
Purpose Modeling disease variants in animals is useful for drug discovery, understanding disease pathology, and classifying variants of uncertain significance (VUS) as pathogenic or benign. Methods Using Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, we performed a Whole-gene Humanized Animal Model procedure to replace the coding sequence of the animal model's unc-18 ortholog with the coding sequence for the human STXBP1 gene. Next, we used Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats to introduce precise point variants in the Whole-gene Humanized Animal Model-humanized STXBP1 locus from 3 clinical categories (benign, pathogenic, and VUS). Twenty-six phenotypic features extracted from video recordings were used to train machine learning classifiers on 25 pathogenic and 32 benign variants. Results Using multiple models, we were able to obtain a diagnostic sensitivity near 0.9. Twenty-three VUS were also interrogated and 8 of 23 (34.8%) were observed to be functionally abnormal. Interestingly, unsupervised clustering identified 2 distinct subsets of known pathogenic variants with distinct phenotypic features; both p.Tyr75Cys and p.Arg406Cys cluster away from other variants and show an increase in swim speed compared with hSTXBP1 worms. This leads to the hypothesis that the mechanism of disease for these 2 variants may differ from most STXBP1-mutated patients and may account for some of the clinical heterogeneity observed in the patient population. Conclusion We have demonstrated that automated analysis of a small animal system is an effective, scalable, and fast way to understand functional consequences of variants in STXBP1 and identify variant-specific intensities of aberrant activity suggesting a genotype-to-phenotype correlation is likely to occur in human clinical variations of STXBP1.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Sarah Ruggiero
- Division of Neurology, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
- The Epilepsy NeuroGenetics Initiative (ENGIN), Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
- Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics (DBHi), Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
- University of Pennsylvania, Neuroscience Program, Philadelphia, PA
| | | | | | | | - Ingo Helbig
- Division of Neurology, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
- The Epilepsy NeuroGenetics Initiative (ENGIN), Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
- Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics (DBHi), Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
- University of Pennsylvania, Neuroscience Program, Philadelphia, PA
| | - Matthew N. Bainbridge
- Codified Genomics, LLC, Houston, TX
- Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine, San Diego, CA
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4
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Kocere A, Lalonde RL, Mosimann C, Burger A. Lateral thinking in syndromic congenital cardiovascular disease. Dis Model Mech 2023; 16:dmm049735. [PMID: 37125615 PMCID: PMC10184679 DOI: 10.1242/dmm.049735] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Syndromic birth defects are rare diseases that can present with seemingly pleiotropic comorbidities. Prime examples are rare congenital heart and cardiovascular anomalies that can be accompanied by forelimb defects, kidney disorders and more. Whether such multi-organ defects share a developmental link remains a key question with relevance to the diagnosis, therapeutic intervention and long-term care of affected patients. The heart, endothelial and blood lineages develop together from the lateral plate mesoderm (LPM), which also harbors the progenitor cells for limb connective tissue, kidneys, mesothelia and smooth muscle. This developmental plasticity of the LPM, which founds on multi-lineage progenitor cells and shared transcription factor expression across different descendant lineages, has the potential to explain the seemingly disparate syndromic defects in rare congenital diseases. Combining patient genome-sequencing data with model organism studies has already provided a wealth of insights into complex LPM-associated birth defects, such as heart-hand syndromes. Here, we summarize developmental and known disease-causing mechanisms in early LPM patterning, address how defects in these processes drive multi-organ comorbidities, and outline how several cardiovascular and hematopoietic birth defects with complex comorbidities may be LPM-associated diseases. We also discuss strategies to integrate patient sequencing, data-aggregating resources and model organism studies to mechanistically decode congenital defects, including potentially LPM-associated orphan diseases. Eventually, linking complex congenital phenotypes to a common LPM origin provides a framework to discover developmental mechanisms and to anticipate comorbidities in congenital diseases affecting the cardiovascular system and beyond.
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Affiliation(s)
- Agnese Kocere
- University of Colorado School of Medicine, Anschutz Medical Campus, Department of Pediatrics, Section of Developmental Biology, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
- Department of Molecular Life Science, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Robert L. Lalonde
- University of Colorado School of Medicine, Anschutz Medical Campus, Department of Pediatrics, Section of Developmental Biology, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
| | - Christian Mosimann
- University of Colorado School of Medicine, Anschutz Medical Campus, Department of Pediatrics, Section of Developmental Biology, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
| | - Alexa Burger
- University of Colorado School of Medicine, Anschutz Medical Campus, Department of Pediatrics, Section of Developmental Biology, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
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5
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Gil-Martínez J, Bernardo-Seisdedos G, Mato JM, Millet O. The use of pharmacological chaperones in rare diseases caused by reduced protein stability. Proteomics 2022; 22:e2200222. [PMID: 36205620 DOI: 10.1002/pmic.202200222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2022] [Revised: 09/26/2022] [Accepted: 09/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Rare diseases are most often caused by inherited genetic disorders that, after translation, will result in a protein with altered function. Decreased protein stability is the most frequent mechanism associated with a congenital pathogenic missense mutation and it implies the destabilization of the folded conformation in favour of unfolded or misfolded states. In the cellular context and when experimental data is available, a mutant protein with altered thermodynamic stability often also results in impaired homeostasis, with the deleterious accumulation of protein aggregates, metabolites and/or metabolic by-products. In the last decades, a significant effort has enabled the characterization of rare diseases associated to protein stability defects and triggered the development of innovative therapeutic intervention lines, say, the use of pharmacological chaperones to correct the intracellular impaired homeostasis. Here, we review the current knowledge on rare diseases caused by reduced protein stability, paying special attention to the thermodynamic aspects of the protein destabilization, also focusing on some examples where pharmacological chaperones are being tested.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jon Gil-Martínez
- Precision Medicine and Metabolism Laboratory, CIC bioGUNE, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Bizkaia, Spain
| | | | - José M Mato
- Precision Medicine and Metabolism Laboratory, CIC bioGUNE, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Bizkaia, Spain.,CIBERehd, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - Oscar Millet
- Precision Medicine and Metabolism Laboratory, CIC bioGUNE, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Bizkaia, Spain.,ATLAS Molecular Pharma, Bizkaia, Spain.,CIBERehd, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
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6
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Reshetnikov VV, Chirinskaite AV, Sopova JV, Ivanov RA, Leonova EI. Translational potential of base-editing tools for gene therapy of monogenic diseases. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2022; 10:942440. [PMID: 36032737 PMCID: PMC9399415 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.942440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2022] [Accepted: 07/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Millions of people worldwide have rare genetic diseases that are caused by various mutations in DNA sequence. Classic treatments of rare genetic diseases are often ineffective, and therefore great hopes are placed on gene-editing methods. A DNA base-editing system based on nCas9 (Cas9 with a nickase activity) or dCas9 (a catalytically inactive DNA-targeting Cas9 enzyme) enables editing without double-strand breaks. These tools are constantly being improved, which increases their potential usefulness for therapies. In this review, we describe the main types of base-editing systems and their application to the treatment of monogenic diseases in experiments in vitro and in vivo. Additionally, to understand the therapeutic potential of these systems, the advantages and disadvantages of base-editing systems are examined.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vasiliy V. Reshetnikov
- Department of Biotechnology, Sirius University of Science and Technology, Sochi, Russia
- Department of Molecular Genetics, Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Novosibirsk, Russia
| | - Angelina V. Chirinskaite
- Сenter of Transgenesis and Genome Editing, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Julia V. Sopova
- Сenter of Transgenesis and Genome Editing, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia
- Laboratory of Amyloid Biology, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Roman A. Ivanov
- Department of Biotechnology, Sirius University of Science and Technology, Sochi, Russia
| | - Elena I. Leonova
- Сenter of Transgenesis and Genome Editing, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia
- Scientific Center for Genetics and Life Sciences, Sirius University of Science and Technology, Sochi, Russia
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7
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Backwell L, Marsh JA. Diverse Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Pathogenic Protein Mutations: Beyond the Loss-of-Function Paradigm. Annu Rev Genomics Hum Genet 2022; 23:475-498. [PMID: 35395171 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-genom-111221-103208] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Most known disease-causing mutations occur in protein-coding regions of DNA. While some of these involve a loss of protein function (e.g., through premature stop codons or missense changes that destabilize protein folding), many act via alternative molecular mechanisms and have dominant-negative or gain-of-function effects. In nearly all cases, these non-loss-of-function mutations can be understood by considering interactions of the wild-type and mutant protein with other molecules, such as proteins, nucleic acids, or small ligands and substrates. Here, we review the diverse molecular mechanisms by which pathogenic mutations can have non-loss-of-function effects, including by disrupting interactions, increasing binding affinity, changing binding specificity, causing assembly-mediated dominant-negative and dominant-positive effects, creating novel interactions, and promoting aggregation and phase separation. We believe that increased awareness of these diverse molecular disease mechanisms will lead to improved diagnosis (and ultimately treatment) of human genetic disorders. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics, Volume 23 is October 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa Backwell
- MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom;
| | - Joseph A Marsh
- MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom;
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8
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Tastan Bishop Ö, Mutemi Musyoka T, Barozi V. Allostery and missense mutations as intermittently linked promising aspects of modern computational drug discovery. J Mol Biol 2022; 434:167610. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2022.167610] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2022] [Revised: 04/21/2022] [Accepted: 04/22/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
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9
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Zha J, Li M, Kong R, Lu S, Zhang J. Explaining and Predicting Allostery with Allosteric Database and Modern Analytical Techniques. J Mol Biol 2022; 434:167481. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2022.167481] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2021] [Revised: 01/25/2022] [Accepted: 01/31/2022] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
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10
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Martínez-deMiguel C, Segura-Bedmar I, Chacón-Solano E, Guerrero-Aspizua S. The RareDis corpus: A corpus annotated with rare diseases, their signs and symptoms. J Biomed Inform 2021; 125:103961. [PMID: 34879250 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbi.2021.103961] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2021] [Revised: 11/08/2021] [Accepted: 11/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Rare diseases affect a small number of people compared to the general population. However, more than 6,000 different rare diseases exist and, in total, they affect more than 300 million people worldwide. Rare diseases share as part of their main problem, the delay in diagnosis and the sparse information available for researchers, clinicians, and patients. Finding a diagnostic can be a very long and frustrating experience for patients and their families. The average diagnostic delay is between 6-8 years. Many of these diseases result in different manifestations among patients, which hampers even more their detection and the correct treatment choice. Therefore, there is an urgent need to increase the scientific and medical knowledge about rare diseases. Natural Language Processing (NLP) can help to extract relevant information about rare diseases to facilitate their diagnosis and treatments, but most NLP techniques require manually annotated corpora. Therefore, our goal is to create a gold standard corpus annotated with rare diseases and their clinical manifestations. It could be used to train and test NLP approaches and the information extracted through NLP could enrich the knowledge of rare diseases, and thereby, help to reduce the diagnostic delay and improve the treatment of rare diseases. The paper describes the selection of 1,041 texts to be included in the corpus, the annotation process and the annotation guidelines. The entities (disease, rare disease, symptom, sign and anaphor) and the relationships (produces, is a, is acron, is synon, increases risk of, anaphora) were annotated. The RareDis corpus contains more than 5,000 rare diseases and almost 6,000 clinical manifestations are annotated. Moreover, the Inter Annotator Agreement evaluation shows a relatively high agreement (F1-measure equal to 83.5% under exact match criteria for the entities and equal to 81.3% for the relations). Based on these results, this corpus is of high quality, supposing a significant step for the field since there is a scarcity of available corpus annotated with rare diseases. This could open the door to further NLP applications, which would facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of these rare diseases and, therefore, would improve dramatically the quality of life of these patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Martínez-deMiguel
- Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine group, Department of Bioengineering, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Avenidad de la Universidad, 30, Leganés 28911, Madrid, Spain
| | - Isabel Segura-Bedmar
- Human Language and Accesibility Technologies, Computer Science Department, Avenidad de la Universidad 30, Leganés 28911, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Esteban Chacón-Solano
- Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine group, Department of Bioengineering, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Avenidad de la Universidad, 30, Leganés 28911, Madrid, Spain; Hospital Fundación Jiménez Díaz e, Instituto de Investigación, FJD, Av. de los Reyes Católicos 2, Madrid 28040, Madrid, Spain; Epithelial Biomedicine Division, CIEMAT, Madrid 28040, Madrid, Spain
| | - Sara Guerrero-Aspizua
- Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine group, Department of Bioengineering, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Avenidad de la Universidad, 30, Leganés 28911, Madrid, Spain; Hospital Fundación Jiménez Díaz e, Instituto de Investigación, FJD, Av. de los Reyes Católicos 2, Madrid 28040, Madrid, Spain; Epithelial Biomedicine Division, CIEMAT, Madrid 28040, Madrid, Spain; Centre for Biomedical Network Research on Rare Diseases (CIBERER), C/Monforte de Lemos 3-5, Madrid 28029, Madrid, Spain
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11
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Rylaarsdam L, Reddy T, Guemez-Gamboa A. In search of a cure: PACS1 Research Foundation as a model of rare disease therapy development. Trends Genet 2021; 38:109-112. [PMID: 34836651 DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2021.10.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2021] [Revised: 10/21/2021] [Accepted: 10/26/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Rare diseases affect nearly 400 million people worldwide and have a devastating impact on patients and families. Although these diseases are collectively common, they are often overlooked by the research community. We present the ongoing work of the PACS1 Syndrome Research Foundation as a paradigm for approaching rare disease research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren Rylaarsdam
- Department of Neuroscience, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA; Northwestern University Interdepartmental Neuroscience (NUIN) Graduate Program, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Taruna Reddy
- PACS1 Syndrome Research Foundation, Old Greenwich, CT, USA
| | - Alicia Guemez-Gamboa
- Department of Neuroscience, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
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12
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Abstract
Genetic testing has yielded major advances in our understanding of the causes of epilepsy. Seizures remain resistant to treatment in a significant proportion of cases, particularly in severe, childhood-onset epilepsy, the patient population in which an underlying causative genetic variant is most likely to be identified. A genetic diagnosis can be explanatory as to etiology, and, in some cases, might suggest a therapeutic approach; yet, a clear path from genetic diagnosis to treatment remains unclear in most cases. Here, we discuss theoretical considerations behind the attempted use of small molecules for the treatment of genetic epilepsies, which is but one among various approaches currently under development. We explore a few salient examples and consider the future of the small molecule approach for genetic epilepsies. We conclude that significant additional work is required to understand how genetic variation leads to dysfunction of epilepsy-associated protein targets, and how this impacts the function of diverse subtypes of neurons embedded within distributed brain circuits to yield epilepsy and epilepsy-associated comorbidities. A syndrome- or even variant-specific approach may be required to achieve progress. Advances in the field will require improved methods for large-scale target validation, compound identification and optimization, and the development of accurate model systems that reflect the core features of human epilepsy syndromes, as well as novel approaches towards clinical trials of such compounds in small rare disease cohorts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ethan M Goldberg
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neurology, Abramson Research Center, The Epilepsy Neurogenetics Initiative, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Abramson Research Center Room 502A, 19104, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
- Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, The University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, 19104, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
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13
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Abstract
Over a thousand diseases are caused by mutations that alter gene expression levels. The potential of nuclease-deficient zinc fingers, TALEs or CRISPR fusion systems to treat these diseases by modulating gene expression has recently emerged. These systems can be applied to modify the activity of gene-regulatory elements - promoters, enhancers, silencers and insulators, subsequently changing their target gene expression levels to achieve therapeutic benefits - an approach termed cis-regulation therapy (CRT). Here, we review emerging CRT technologies and assess their therapeutic potential for treating a wide range of diseases caused by abnormal gene dosage. The challenges facing the translation of CRT into the clinic are discussed.
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14
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Lim KH, Han Z, Jeon HY, Kach J, Jing E, Weyn-Vanhentenryck S, Downs M, Corrionero A, Oh R, Scharner J, Venkatesh A, Ji S, Liau G, Ticho B, Nash H, Aznarez I. Antisense oligonucleotide modulation of non-productive alternative splicing upregulates gene expression. Nat Commun 2020; 11:3501. [PMID: 32647108 PMCID: PMC7347940 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17093-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 100] [Impact Index Per Article: 25.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2019] [Accepted: 06/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
While most monogenic diseases are caused by loss or reduction of protein function, the need for technologies that can selectively increase levels of protein in native tissues remains. Here we demonstrate that antisense-mediated modulation of pre-mRNA splicing can increase endogenous expression of full-length protein by preventing naturally occurring non-productive alternative splicing and promoting generation of productive mRNA. Bioinformatics analysis of RNA sequencing data identifies non-productive splicing events in 7,757 protein-coding human genes, of which 1,246 are disease-associated. Antisense oligonucleotides targeting multiple types of non-productive splicing events lead to increases in productive mRNA and protein in a dose-dependent manner in vitro. Moreover, intracerebroventricular injection of two antisense oligonucleotides in wild-type mice leads to a dose-dependent increase in productive mRNA and protein in the brain. The targeting of natural non-productive alternative splicing to upregulate expression from wild-type or hypomorphic alleles provides a unique approach to treating genetic diseases. Restoration of normal gene expression is one way to treat monogenic disorders. Here the authors target naturally occurring non-productive alternative splicing using antisense oligonucleotides to promote the production of functional proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Zhou Han
- Stoke Therapeutics, Inc., Bedford, MA, USA
| | | | - Jacob Kach
- Stoke Therapeutics, Inc., Bedford, MA, USA
| | | | | | | | | | - Raymond Oh
- Stoke Therapeutics, Inc., Bedford, MA, USA
| | | | | | - Sophina Ji
- Stoke Therapeutics, Inc., Bedford, MA, USA
| | - Gene Liau
- Stoke Therapeutics, Inc., Bedford, MA, USA
| | | | - Huw Nash
- Stoke Therapeutics, Inc., Bedford, MA, USA
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15
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Zhu L, Roberts R, Huang R, Zhao J, Xia M, Delavan B, Mikailov M, Tong W, Liu Z. Drug Repositioning for Noonan and LEOPARD Syndromes by Integrating Transcriptomics With a Structure-Based Approach. Front Pharmacol 2020; 11:927. [PMID: 32676024 PMCID: PMC7333460 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2020.00927] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2019] [Accepted: 06/08/2020] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Noonan and LEOPARD syndromes (NS and LS) belong to a group of related disorders called RASopathies characterized by abnormalities of multiple organs and systems including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and dysmorphic facial features. There are no approved drugs for these two rare diseases, but it is known that a missense mutation in PTPN11 genes is associated with approximately 50% and 70% of NS and LS cases, respectively. In this study, we implemented a hybrid computational drug repositioning framework by integrating transcriptomic and structure-based approaches to explore potential treatment options for NS and LS. Specifically, disease signatures were derived from the transcriptomic profiles of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from NS and LS patients and reverse correlated to drug transcriptomic signatures from CMap and L1000 projects on the basis that if disease and drug transcriptomic signatures are reversely correlated, the drug has the potential to treat that disease. The compounds that were ranked top based on their transcriptomic profiles were docked to mutated and wild-type 3D structures of PTPN11 by an adjusted Induced Fit Docking (IFD) protocol. In addition, we prioritized repositioned candidates for NS and LS by a consensus ranking strategy. Network analysis and phenotypic anchoring of the transcriptomic data could discriminate the two diseases at the molecular level. Furthermore, the adjusted IFD protocol was able to recapitulate the binding specificity of potential drug candidates to mutated 3D structures, revealing the relevant amino acids. Importantly, a list of potential drug candidates for repositioning was identified including 61 for NS and 43 for LS and was further verified from literature reports and on-going clinical trials. Altogether, this hybrid computational drug repositioning approach has highlighted a number of drug candidates for NS and LS and could be applied to identifying drug candidates for other diseases as well.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liyuan Zhu
- National Center for Toxicological Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Jefferson, AR, United States
| | - Ruth Roberts
- National Center for Toxicological Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Jefferson, AR, United States.,Department of Drug Safety, ApconiX, Alderley Edge, United Kingdom.,Department of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
| | - Ruili Huang
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD, United States
| | - Jinghua Zhao
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD, United States
| | - Menghang Xia
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD, United States
| | - Brian Delavan
- National Center for Toxicological Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Jefferson, AR, United States.,Joint Bioinformatics Graduate Program, University of Arkansas at Little Rock and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, United States
| | - Mike Mikailov
- Office of Science and Engineering Labs, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD, United States
| | - Weida Tong
- National Center for Toxicological Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Jefferson, AR, United States
| | - Zhichao Liu
- National Center for Toxicological Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Jefferson, AR, United States
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16
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Bhat AS, Dustin Schaeffer R, Kinch L, Medvedev KE, Grishin NV. Recent advances suggest increased influence of selective pressure in allostery. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2020; 62:183-188. [PMID: 32302874 DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2020.02.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2019] [Revised: 02/21/2020] [Accepted: 02/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Allosteric regulation of protein functions is ubiquitous in organismal biology, but the principles governing its evolution are not well understood. Here we discuss recent studies supporting the large-scale existence of latent allostery in ancestor proteins of superfamilies. As suggested, the evolution of allostery could be driven by the need for specificity in paralogs of slow evolving protein complexes with conserved active sites. The same slow evolution is displayed by purifying selection exhibited in allosteric proteins with somatic mutations involved in cancer, where disease-associated mutations are enriched in both orthosteric and allosteric sites. Consequently, disease-associated variants can be used to identify druggable allosteric sites that are specific for paralogs in protein superfamilies with otherwise similar functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Archana S Bhat
- Department of Biophysics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390-9050, United States
| | - Richard Dustin Schaeffer
- Department of Biophysics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390-9050, United States
| | - Lisa Kinch
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390-9050, United States
| | - Kirill E Medvedev
- Department of Biophysics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390-9050, United States
| | - Nick V Grishin
- Department of Biophysics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390-9050, United States; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390-9050, United States.
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17
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CRISPR Diagnosis and Therapeutics with Single Base Pair Precision. Trends Mol Med 2019; 26:337-350. [PMID: 31791730 DOI: 10.1016/j.molmed.2019.09.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2019] [Revised: 09/25/2019] [Accepted: 09/25/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, or CRISPR, has been widely accepted as a versatile genome editing tool with significant potential for medical application. Reliable allele specificity is one of the most critical elements for successful application of this technology to develop high-precision therapeutics and diagnostics. CRISPR-based genome editing tools achieve high-fidelity distinction of single-base differences in target genomic loci by structural identification of CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins and sequences of the guide RNAs. In this review, we describe the structural features of ribonucleoprotein complex formation by CRISPR proteins and guide RNAs that eventually recognize target DNA sequences. This structural understanding provides the basis for the recent applications of enhanced single-base precision genome editing technologies for effective distinction of specific alleles.
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18
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Zhao W, Hou X, Vick OG, Dong Y. RNA delivery biomaterials for the treatment of genetic and rare diseases. Biomaterials 2019; 217:119291. [PMID: 31255978 DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2019.119291] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2019] [Revised: 06/14/2019] [Accepted: 06/18/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Genetic and rare diseases (GARDs) affect more than 350 million patients worldwide and remain a significant challenge in the clinic. Hence, continuous efforts have been made to bridge the significant gap between the supply and demand of effective treatments for GARDs. Recent decades have witnessed the impressive progress in the fight against GARDs, with an improved understanding of the genetic origins of rare diseases and the rapid development in gene therapy providing a new avenue for GARD therapy. RNA-based therapeutics, such as RNA interference (RNAi), messenger RNA (mRNA) and RNA-involved genome editing technologies, demonstrate great potential as a therapy tool for treating genetic associated rare diseases. In the meantime, a variety of RNA delivery vehicles were established for boosting the widespread applications of RNA therapeutics. Among all the RNA delivery platforms which enable the systemic applications of RNAs, non-viral RNA delivery biomaterials display superior properties and a few biomaterials have been successfully exploited for achieving the RNA-based gene therapies on GARDs. In this review article, we focus on recent advances in the development of novel biomaterials for delivery of RNA-based therapeutics and highlight their applications to treat GARDs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weiyu Zhao
- Division of Pharmaceutics & Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, United States
| | - Xucheng Hou
- Division of Pharmaceutics & Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, United States
| | - Olivia G Vick
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, United States
| | - Yizhou Dong
- Division of Pharmaceutics & Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, United States; Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, United States; The Center for Clinical and Translational Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, United States; The Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, United States; Dorothy M. Davis Heart & Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, United States; Department of Radiation Oncology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, United States.
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19
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Ekins S, Puhl AC, Zorn KM, Lane TR, Russo DP, Klein JJ, Hickey AJ, Clark AM. Exploiting machine learning for end-to-end drug discovery and development. NATURE MATERIALS 2019; 18:435-441. [PMID: 31000803 PMCID: PMC6594828 DOI: 10.1038/s41563-019-0338-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 235] [Impact Index Per Article: 47.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2018] [Accepted: 03/07/2019] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
A variety of machine learning methods such as naive Bayesian, support vector machines and more recently deep neural networks are demonstrating their utility for drug discovery and development. These leverage the generally bigger datasets created from high-throughput screening data and allow prediction of bioactivities for targets and molecular properties with increased levels of accuracy. We have only just begun to exploit the potential of these techniques but they may already be fundamentally changing the research process for identifying new molecules and/or repurposing old drugs. The integrated application of such machine learning models for end-to-end (E2E) application is broadly relevant and has considerable implications for developing future therapies and their targeting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sean Ekins
- Collaborations Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Raleigh, NC, USA.
| | - Ana C Puhl
- Collaborations Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Raleigh, NC, USA
| | | | - Thomas R Lane
- Collaborations Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Raleigh, NC, USA
| | - Daniel P Russo
- Collaborations Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Raleigh, NC, USA
- The Rutgers Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Camden, NJ, USA
| | | | - Anthony J Hickey
- RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
- UNC Catalyst for Rare Diseases, Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Alex M Clark
- Molecular Materials Informatics, Inc., Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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20
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Substrate reduction therapy for inborn errors of metabolism. Emerg Top Life Sci 2019; 3:63-73. [PMID: 33523197 PMCID: PMC7289018 DOI: 10.1042/etls20180058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2018] [Revised: 01/02/2019] [Accepted: 01/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Inborn errors of metabolism (IEM) represent a growing group of monogenic disorders each associated with inherited defects in a metabolic enzyme or regulatory protein, leading to biochemical abnormalities arising from a metabolic block. Despite the well-established genetic linkage, pathophysiology and clinical manifestations for many IEMs, there remains a lack of transformative therapy. The available treatment and management options for a few IEMs are often ineffective or expensive, incurring a significant burden to individual, family, and society. The lack of IEM therapies, in large part, relates to the conceptual challenge that IEMs are loss-of-function defects arising from the defective enzyme, rendering pharmacologic rescue difficult. An emerging approach that holds promise and is the subject of a flurry of pre-/clinical applications, is substrate reduction therapy (SRT). SRT addresses a common IEM phenotype associated with toxic accumulation of substrate from the defective enzyme, by inhibiting the formation of the substrate instead of directly repairing the defective enzyme. This minireview will summarize recent highlights towards the development of emerging SRT, with focussed attention towards repurposing of currently approved drugs, approaches to validate novel targets and screen for hit molecules, as well as emerging advances in gene silencing as a therapeutic modality.
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21
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Abstract
Rare renal diseases (RRD) are an important category of rare disease (RD) as they can do great damage to the patients, families and society. The patient may undergo years even decades of numerous investigations including invasive procedures and yet not have definitive and precise diagnose and therefore, no opportunity for appropriate treatment. The great progress in molecular genetic techniques characterized many Mendelian diseases on molecular level. This gave the possibility for appropriate prevention and treatment interventions, genetic counseling and prenatal diagnosis. Herein, we summarize the current status of RRD in Macedonia. The research interest of Macedonian clinicians and scientists is focused on the genetics of congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT), steroid resistant nephrotic syndrome, nephrolithiasis and nephrocalcinosis, cystic diseases and cilliopathies with collaborations with eminent laboratories in Unites States and Europe. This collaboration resulted in detection of new genes and pathophysiological pathways published in The New England Journal of Medicine and in other high impact journals. Macedonian health professionals have knowledge and equipment for diagnosis of RRD. Unfortunately the lack of finances is great obstacle for early and appropriate diagnosis. Participation in the international registries, studies and trials should be encouraged. This would result in significant benefit for the patients, health professionals and science.
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22
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Beitelshees M, Hill A, Rostami P, Jones CH, Pfeifer B. Pressing diseases that represent promising targets for gene therapy. DISCOVERY MEDICINE 2017; 24:313-322. [PMID: 29373809 PMCID: PMC9890200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
Over time, there has been a growing interest in the application of gene therapy within the healthcare industry as demonstrated by the nearly 3,000 clinical trials associated with gene therapy that are listed in clinicaltrials.gov. However, there are various difficulties associated with gene therapy that have limited the realization of licensed gene therapies to only a handful of treatments. Furthermore, efforts to develop gene therapeutics have been narrowly focused and most clinical trials have sought to develop treatments for cancer (64.6%), monogenic diseases (10.5%), infectious diseases (7.4%), and cardiovascular diseases (7.4%). In addition, nearly 70% of clinical trials have utilized viral-based delivery systems, despite various concerns associated with this strategy. Each of these factors highlights the lack of diversity in the development of gene therapeutics that should be addressed. In recent years, developments in gene manipulation and delivery such as CRISPR and non-viral vectors (e.g., liposomes) demonstrate promise for improving outcomes for gene therapy. The increased fidelity and capacity afforded by these technologies provide the potential to improve upon contemporary gene therapy approaches and enable the development of treatments for less-emphasized disorders. In this review, we provide a summary of gene delivery technology and discuss various developments in gene therapy technology. We conclude by proposing several genetic conditions that represent promising targets for gene therapy given recent developments in gene delivery and manipulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- M. Beitelshees
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York, USA
| | - A. Hill
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York, USA,Abcombi Biosciences Inc., Buffalo, New York, USA
| | - P. Rostami
- Abcombi Biosciences Inc., Buffalo, New York, USA
| | - C. H. Jones
- Abcombi Biosciences Inc., Buffalo, New York, USA,Correspondence to: ,
| | - B.A. Pfeifer
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York, USA,Department of Biomedical Engineering, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York, USA,Correspondence to: ,
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23
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Khaladkar M, Koscielny G, Hasan S, Agarwal P, Dunham I, Rajpal D, Sanseau P. Uncovering novel repositioning opportunities using the Open Targets platform. Drug Discov Today 2017; 22:1800-1807. [PMID: 28919242 DOI: 10.1016/j.drudis.2017.09.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2017] [Revised: 08/14/2017] [Accepted: 09/05/2017] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
The recently developed Open Targets platform consolidates a wide range of comprehensive evidence associating known and potential drug targets with human diseases. We have harnessed the integrated data from this platform for novel drug repositioning opportunities. Our computational workflow systematically mines data from various evidence categories and presents potential repositioning opportunities for drugs that are marketed or being investigated in ongoing human clinical trials, based on evidence strength on target-disease pairing. We classified these novel target-disease opportunities in several ways: (i) number of independent counts of evidence; (ii) broad therapy area of origin; and (iii) repositioning within or across therapy areas. Finally, we elaborate on one example that was identified by this approach.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Gautier Koscielny
- GSK, Medicines Research Center, Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage SG1 2NY, UK; Open Targets, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Samiul Hasan
- GSK, Medicines Research Center, Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage SG1 2NY, UK
| | | | - Ian Dunham
- Open Targets, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK; European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Deepak Rajpal
- GSK, 709 Swedeland Road, King of Prussia, PA 19406, USA
| | - Philippe Sanseau
- GSK, Medicines Research Center, Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage SG1 2NY, UK; Open Targets, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK.
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