TY - JOUR
T1 - Cytosine Deaminase Base Editing to Restore COL7A1 in Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa Human
T2 - Murine Skin Model
AU - Naso, Gaetano
AU - Gkazi, Soragia Athina
AU - Georgiadis, Christos
AU - Jayarajan, Vignesh
AU - Jacków, Joanna
AU - Fleck, Roland
AU - Allison, Leanne
AU - Ogunbiyi, Olumide Kayode
AU - McGrath, John Alexander
AU - Ilic, Dusko
AU - Di, Wei Li
AU - Petrova, Anastasia
AU - Qasim, Waseem
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors
PY - 2023/5
Y1 - 2023/5
N2 - Recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa is a debilitating blistering skin disorder caused by loss-of-function mutations in COL7A1, which encodes type VII collagen, the main component of anchoring fibrils at the dermal−epidermal junction. Although conventional gene therapy approaches through viral vectors have been tested in preclinical and clinical trials, they are limited by transgene size constraints and only support unregulated gene expression. Genome editing could potentially overcome some of these limitations, and CRISPR/Cas9 has already been applied in research studies to restore COL7A1 expression. The delivery of suitable repair templates for the repair of DNA cleaved by Cas9 is still a major challenge, and alternative base editing strategies may offer corrective solutions for certain mutations. We show highly targeted and efficient cytidine deamination and molecular correction of a defined recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa mutation (c.425A>G), leading to restoration of full-length type VII collagen protein expression in primary human fibroblasts and induced pluripotent stem cells. Type VII collagen basement membrane expression and skin architecture were restored with de novo anchoring fibrils identified by electron microscopy in base-edited human recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa grafts recovered from immunodeficient mice. The results show the potential and promise of emerging base editing technologies in tackling inherited disorders with well-defined single nucleotide mutations.
AB - Recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa is a debilitating blistering skin disorder caused by loss-of-function mutations in COL7A1, which encodes type VII collagen, the main component of anchoring fibrils at the dermal−epidermal junction. Although conventional gene therapy approaches through viral vectors have been tested in preclinical and clinical trials, they are limited by transgene size constraints and only support unregulated gene expression. Genome editing could potentially overcome some of these limitations, and CRISPR/Cas9 has already been applied in research studies to restore COL7A1 expression. The delivery of suitable repair templates for the repair of DNA cleaved by Cas9 is still a major challenge, and alternative base editing strategies may offer corrective solutions for certain mutations. We show highly targeted and efficient cytidine deamination and molecular correction of a defined recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa mutation (c.425A>G), leading to restoration of full-length type VII collagen protein expression in primary human fibroblasts and induced pluripotent stem cells. Type VII collagen basement membrane expression and skin architecture were restored with de novo anchoring fibrils identified by electron microscopy in base-edited human recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa grafts recovered from immunodeficient mice. The results show the potential and promise of emerging base editing technologies in tackling inherited disorders with well-defined single nucleotide mutations.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85162737136&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.xjidi.2023.100191
DO - 10.1016/j.xjidi.2023.100191
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85162737136
SN - 2667-0267
VL - 3
JO - JID Innovations
JF - JID Innovations
IS - 3
M1 - 100191
ER -