Browsing by Author "Gupta, Rajat"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    In Vivo Ryr2 Editing Corrects Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia
    (American Heart Association, 2018) Pan, Xiaolu; Philippen, Leonne; Lahiri, Satadru K.; Lee, Ciaran; Park, So Hyun; Word, Tarah A.; Li, Na; Jarrett, Kelsey E.; Gupta, Rajat; Reynolds, Julia O.; Lin, Jean; Bao, Gang; Lagor, William R.; Wehrens, Xander H.T.; Bioengineering
    Rationale:Autosomal-dominant mutations in ryanodine receptor type 2 (RYR2) are responsible for ≈60% of all catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia. Dysfunctional RyR2 subunits trigger inappropriate calcium leak from the tetrameric channel resulting in potentially lethal ventricular tachycardia. In vivo CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing is a promising strategy that could be used to eliminate the disease-causing Ryr2 allele and hence rescue catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia.Objective:To determine if somatic in vivo genome editing using the CRISPR/Cas9 system delivered by adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors could correct catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia arrhythmias in mice heterozygous for RyR2 mutation R176Q (R176Q/+).Methods and Results:Guide RNAs were designed to specifically disrupt the R176Q allele in the R176Q/+ mice using the SaCas9 (Staphylococcus aureus Cas9) genome editing system. AAV serotype 9 was used to deliver Cas9 and guide RNA to neonatal mice by single subcutaneous injection at postnatal day 10. Strikingly, none of the R176Q/+ mice treated with AAV-CRISPR developed arrhythmias, compared with 71% of R176Q/+ mice receiving control AAV serotype 9. Total Ryr2 mRNA and protein levels were significantly reduced in R176Q/+ mice, but not in wild-type littermates. Targeted deep sequencing confirmed successful and highly specific editing of the disease-causing R176Q allele. No detectable off-target mutagenesis was observed in the wild-type Ryr2 allele or the predicted putative off-target site, confirming high specificity for SaCas9 in vivo. In addition, confocal imaging revealed that gene editing normalized the enhanced Ca2+ spark frequency observed in untreated R176Q/+ mice without affecting systolic Ca2+ transients.Conclusions:AAV serotype 9–based delivery of the SaCas9 system can efficiently disrupt a disease-causing allele in cardiomyocytes in vivo. This work highlights the potential of somatic genome editing approaches for the treatment of lethal autosomal-dominant inherited cardiac disorders, such as catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Somatic genome editing with CRISPR/Cas9 generates and corrects a metabolic disease
    (Springer Nature, 2017) Jarrett, Kelsey E.; Lee, Ciaran M.; Yeh, Yi-Hsien; Hsu, Rachel H.; Gupta, Rajat; Zhang, Min; Rodriguez, Perla J.; Lee, Chang Seok; Gillard, Baiba K.; Bissig, Karl-Dimiter; Pownall, Henry J.; Martin, James F.; Bao, Gang; Lagor, William R.; Bioengineering
    Germline manipulation using CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing has dramatically accelerated the generation of new mouse models. Nonetheless, many metabolic disease models still depend upon laborious germline targeting, and are further complicated by the need to avoid developmental phenotypes. We sought to address these experimental limitations by generating somatic mutations in the adult liver using CRISPR/Cas9, as a new strategy to model metabolic disorders. As proof-of-principle, we targeted the low-density lipoprotein receptor (Ldlr), which when deleted, leads to severe hypercholesterolemia and atherosclerosis. Here we show that hepatic disruption of Ldlr with AAV-CRISPR results in severe hypercholesterolemia and atherosclerosis. We further demonstrate that co-disruption of Apob, whose germline loss is embryonically lethal, completely prevented disease through compensatory inhibition of hepatic LDL production. This new concept of metabolic disease modeling by somatic genome editing could be applied to many other systemic as well as liver-restricted disorders which are difficult to study by germline manipulation.