Knockdown of Z Mutant Alpha-1 Antitrypsin In Vivo Using Modified DNA Antisense Oligonucleotides

Author(s):  
Mariam Aghajan ◽  
Shuling Guo ◽  
Brett P. Monia
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (15) ◽  
pp. 8031
Author(s):  
Iris G. M. Schouten ◽  
Richard A. Mumford ◽  
Dirk Jan A. R. Moes ◽  
Pieter S. Hiemstra ◽  
Jan Stolk

In alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency (AATD), neutrophil serine proteases such as elastase and proteinase 3 (PR3) are insufficiently inhibited. A previous study in AATD patients showed a higher plasma level of the specific PR3-generated fibrinogen-derived peptide AαVal541, compared with healthy controls. Here, we analyzed the course of AαVal541 plasma levels during 4 weeks after a single iv dose of 240 mg/kg AAT in ten patients with genotype Z/Rare or Rare/Rare. To this end, we developed an immunoassay to measure AαVal541 in plasma and applied population pharmacokinetic modeling for AAT. The median AαVal541 plasma level before treatment was 140.2 nM (IQR 51.5–234.8 nM)). In five patients who received AAT for the first time, AαVal541 levels decreased to 20.6 nM (IQR 5.8–88.9 nM), and in five patients who already had received multiple infusions before, it decreased to 26.2 nM (IQR 22.31–35.0 nM). In 9 of 10 patients, AαVal541 levels were reduced to the median level of healthy controls (21.4 nM; IQR 16.7–30.1 nM). At 7–14 days after treatment, AαVal541 levels started to increase again in all patients. Our results show that fibrinopeptide AαVal541 may serve as a biochemical footprint to assess the efficacy of in vivo inhibition of PR3 activity in patients receiving intravenous AAT augmentation therapy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy J. Newbury ◽  
Jui-Hui Wang ◽  
Gene Hung ◽  
Bruce M. Hendry ◽  
Claire C. Sharpe

Abstract Chronic Kidney Disease is a growing problem across the world and can lead to end-stage kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. Fibrosis is the underlying mechanism that leads to organ dysfunction, but as yet we have no therapeutics that can influence this process. Ras monomeric GTPases are master regulators that direct many of the cytokines known to drive fibrosis to downstream effector cascades. We have previously shown that K-Ras is a key isoform that drives fibrosis in the kidney. Here we demonstrate that K-Ras expression and activation are increased in rodent models of CKD. By knocking down expression of K-Ras using antisense oligonucleotides in a mouse model of chronic folic acid nephropathy we can reduce fibrosis by 50% and prevent the loss of renal function over 3 months. In addition, we have demonstrated in vitro and in vivo that reduction of K-Ras expression is associated with a reduction in Jag1 expression; we hypothesise this is the mechanism by which targeting K-Ras has therapeutic benefit. In conclusion, targeting K-Ras expression with antisense oligonucleotides in a mouse model of CKD prevents fibrosis and protects against renal dysfunction.


Life Sciences ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 66 (21) ◽  
pp. 2091-2099 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Piegari ◽  
Umberto Galderisi ◽  
Liberato Berrino ◽  
Giovanni Di Bernardo ◽  
Marilena Cipollaro ◽  
...  

Development ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 128 (8) ◽  
pp. 1467-1479 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Kos ◽  
M.V. Reedy ◽  
R.L. Johnson ◽  
C.A. Erickson

The winged-helix or forkhead class of transcription factors has been shown to play important roles in cell specification and lineage segregation. We have cloned the chicken homolog of FoxD3, a member of the winged-helix class of transcription factors, and analyzed its expression. Based on its expression in the dorsal neural tube and in all neural crest lineages except the late-emigrating melanoblasts, we predicted that FoxD3 might be important in the segregation of the neural crest lineage from the neural epithelium, and for repressing melanogenesis in early-migrating neural crest cells. Misexpression of FoxD3 by electroporation in the lateral neural epithelium early in neural crest development produced an expansion of HNK1 immunoreactivity throughout the neural epithelium, although these cells did not undergo an epithelial/mesenchymal transformation. To test whether FoxD3 represses melanogenesis in early migrating neural crest cells, we knocked down expression in cultured neural crest with antisense oligonucleotides and in vivo by treatment with morpholino antisense oligonucleotides. Both experimental approaches resulted in an expansion of the melanoblast lineage, probably at the expense of neuronal and glial lineages. Conversely, persistent expression of FoxD3 in late-migrating neural crest cells using RCAS viruses resulted in the failure of melanoblasts to develop. We suggest that FoxD3 plays two important roles in neural crest development. First, it is involved in the segregation of the neural crest lineage from the neuroepithelium. Second, it represses melanogenesis, thereby allowing other neural crest derivatives to differentiate during the early stages of neural crest patterning.


2005 ◽  
Vol 98 (2) ◽  
pp. 732-738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark F. Banks ◽  
Evgenia V. Gerasimovskaya ◽  
Doug A. Tucker ◽  
Maria G. Frid ◽  
Todd C. Carpenter ◽  
...  

In most mammalian species, chronic exposure to hypoxia leads to pulmonary hypertension and vascular remodeling. The adventitial fibroblast, because of its ability to proliferate in response to hypoxia, is thought to be a critical cell in the remodeling process. However, the transcription factors driving hypoxia-induced fibroblast proliferation have yet to be elucidated. The early growth response-1 (Egr-1) transcription factor has been shown to be upregulated by hypoxia in pulmonary artery adventitial fibroblasts. We therefore hypothesized that Egr-1 is directly involved in hypoxia-induced adventitial fibroblast proliferation. Immunohistochemical analysis of in vivo lung tissue from animals exposed to chronic hypoxia revealed increased expression of Egr-1 in the pulmonary artery fibroblasts vs. expression shown in normoxic controls. In fibroblasts cultured from chronically hypoxic animals, exposure to 1% oxygen upregulated Egr-1 protein and cell proliferation. To evaluate the role of Egr-1 in hypoxia-induced proliferation, we employed an Egr-1 antisense strategy. Addition of antisense Egr-1 oligonucleotides, but not sense oligonucleotides, attenuated the hypoxia-induced upregulation of Egr-1 protein and reduced hypoxia-induced DNA synthesis by 50%. Cell proliferation was also significantly inhibited by the addition of antisense Egr-1 oligonucleotides but not the sense oligonucleotides. In addition, hypoxia-induced upregulations of cyclin D and epidermal growth factor receptor were attenuated by Egr-1 antisense oligonucleotides. We conclude that Egr-1 protein expression is very sensitive to upregulation by hypoxia in pulmonary artery adventitial fibroblasts and that it plays an important role in the autonomous growth phenotype induced by hypoxia in these cells.


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