Paremskaia AI, Kogan AA, Murashkina A, Naumova DA, Satish A, Abramov IS, Feoktistova SG, Mityaeva ON, Deviatkin AA, Volchkov PY. Codon-optimization in gene therapy: promises, prospects and challenges.
Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2024;
12:1371596. [PMID:
38605988 PMCID:
PMC11007035 DOI:
10.3389/fbioe.2024.1371596]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2024] [Accepted: 03/19/2024] [Indexed: 04/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Codon optimization has evolved to enhance protein expression efficiency by exploiting the genetic code's redundancy, allowing for multiple codon options for a single amino acid. Initially observed in E. coli, optimal codon usage correlates with high gene expression, which has propelled applications expanding from basic research to biopharmaceuticals and vaccine development. The method is especially valuable for adjusting immune responses in gene therapies and has the potenial to create tissue-specific therapies. However, challenges persist, such as the risk of unintended effects on protein function and the complexity of evaluating optimization effectiveness. Despite these issues, codon optimization is crucial in advancing gene therapeutics. This study provides a comprehensive review of the current metrics for codon-optimization, and its practical usage in research and clinical applications, in the context of gene therapy.
Collapse