Combining Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells and CRISPR-Cas Gene Editing to Model and Develop New Therapies for Nuclear Envelope Diseases

Dr Francesco Saverio TEDESCO (primary)
Department of Cell and Developmental Biology & Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
University College London
Professor Peter S. ZAMMIT (secondary)
Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biophysics
King's College London

Abstract

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), combined with CRISPR genome editing technologies, provide powerful tools for disease modelling to both improve understanding of pathology and develop next-generation therapies. Here, these cutting-edge technologies will be applied to diseases caused by cell nuclear defects. Lamins assemble into the nuclear lamina, providing structural support and regulating gene expression. Mutant lamin A/C cause a plethora of diseases affecting multiple tissues called ‘laminopathies’. We have modelled skeletal muscle laminopathies by differentiating LMNA-mutant iPSCs into muscle tissue. Now we will use this proven platform to study pathophysiology and develop treatments for laminopathies affecting nervous and cardiac tissues.


References

[1] Worman HJ. Nuclear lamins and laminopathies. J Pathol 2012; 226,316-325.
[2] Scharner J, Gnocchi VF, Ellis JA, Zammit PS. Genotype-phenotype correlations in laminopathies: how does fate translate? Biochem Soc Trans. 2010 Feb;38(Pt 1):257-62.
[3] Maffioletti SM, Sarcar S, Henderson ABH, Mannhardt I, Pinton L, Moyle LA, Steele-Stallard H, Cappellari O, Wells KE, Ferrari G, Mitchell JS, Tyzack GE, Kotiadis VN, Khedr M, Ragazzi M, Wang W, Duchen MR, Patani R, Zammit PS, Wells D, Eschenhagen T, Tedesco FS. Three-dimensional Human iPSC-derived Artificial Skeletal Muscles Model Muscular Dystrophies and Enable Multilineage Tissue Engineering. Cell Reports 2018 Apr 17;23(3):899-908.
[4] Steele-Stallard H, Pinton L, Sarcar, S, Ozdemir T, Maffioletti SM, Zammit PS and Tedesco FS. Modelling Skeletal Muscle Laminopathies Using Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Carrying Pathogenic LMNA mutations. Frontiers in Physiology, 2018 Oct 15 doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2018.01332
[5] Scharner J, Figeac N, Ellis JA, Zammit PS. Ameliorating pathogenesis by removing an exon containing a missense mutation: a potential exon-skipping therapy for laminopathies. Gene Ther. 2015 Jun;22(6):503-15.


BBSRC Area
Genes, development and STEM* approaches to biology
Area of Biology
BiotechnologyCell Biology
Techniques & Approaches
BiochemistryBioinformaticsBiophysicsChemistryEngineeringGeneticsImage ProcessingMathematics / StatisticsMicroscopy / ElectrophysiologyMolecular BiologySimulation / Modelling