Ret function in muscle stem cells points to tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy

Louise A. Moyle, Eric Blanc, Oihane Jaka Irizar, Johanna Prueller, Christopher Rs Banerji, Francesco Saverio Tedesco, Stephen D. R. Harridge, Robert D. Knight*, Peter S. Zammit

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)
269 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) involves sporadic expression of DUX4, which inhibits myogenesis and is pro-apoptotic. To identify target genes, we over-expressed DUX4 in myoblasts and found that the receptor tyrosine kinase Ret was significantly up-regulated, suggesting a role in FSHD. RET is dynamically expressed during myogenic progression in mouse and human myoblasts. Constitutive expression of either RET9 or RET51 increased myoblast proliferation, whereas siRNA-mediated knockdown of Ret induced myogenic differentiation. Suppressing RET activity using Sunitinib, a clinically-approved tyrosine kinase inhibitor, rescued differentiation in both DUX4-expressing murine myoblasts and in FSHD patient-derived myoblasts. Importantly, Sunitinib also increased engraftment and differentiation of FSHD myoblasts in regenerating mouse muscle. Thus, DUX4-mediated activation of Ret prevents myogenic differentiation and could contribute to FSHD pathology by preventing satellite cell-mediated repair. Rescue of DUX4-induced pathology by Sunitinib highlights the therapeutic potential of tyrosine kinase inhibitors for treatment of FSHD.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere11405
JournaleLife
Volume5
Early online date14 Nov 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 14 Nov 2016

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Ret function in muscle stem cells points to tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this