Effective exon skipping and dystrophin restoration by 2'-o-methoxyethyl antisense oligonucleotide in dystrophin-deficient mice

PLoS One. 2013 Apr 26;8(4):e61584. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0061584. Print 2013.

Abstract

Antisense oligonucleotide (AO)-mediated exon-skipping therapy is one of the most promising therapeutic strategies for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and several AO chemistries have been rigorously investigated. In this report, we focused on the effect of 2'-O-methoxyethyl oligonucleotides (MOE) on exon skipping in cultured mdx myoblasts and mice. Efficient dose-dependent skipping of targeted exon 23 was achieved in myoblasts with MOE AOs of different lengths and backbone chemistries. Furthermore, we established that 25-mer MOE phosphorothioate (PS) AOs provided the greatest exon-skipping efficacy. When compared with 2'O methyl phosphorothioate (2'OmePS) AOs, 25-mer MOE (PS) AOs also showed higher exon-skipping activity in vitro and in mdx mice after intramuscular injections. Characterization of uptake in vitro corroborated with exon-skipping results, suggesting that increased uptake of 25-mer MOE PS AOs might partly contribute to the difference in exon-skipping activity observed in vitro and in mdx mice. Our findings demonstrate the substantial potential for MOE PS AOs as an alternative option for the treatment of DMD.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Dystrophin / genetics*
  • Dystrophin / metabolism
  • Exons*
  • Genetic Therapy
  • Humans
  • Injections, Intramuscular
  • Mice
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Muscle Fibers, Skeletal / drug effects
  • Muscle Fibers, Skeletal / metabolism
  • Muscle Fibers, Skeletal / pathology
  • Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne / genetics*
  • Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne / metabolism
  • Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne / pathology
  • Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne / therapy*
  • Myoblasts / drug effects*
  • Myoblasts / metabolism
  • Myoblasts / pathology
  • Oligonucleotides, Antisense / genetics
  • Oligonucleotides, Antisense / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Dystrophin
  • Oligonucleotides, Antisense

Grants and funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81101340), Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (Grant No.20111202110002) and Program for New Century Excellent Talents (NCET-10-0957). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.