scholarly journals Peptide-Functionalized Dendrimer Nanocarriers for Targeted Microdystrophin Gene Delivery

Pharmaceutics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 2159
Author(s):  
Jessica Hersh ◽  
José Manuel Condor Capcha ◽  
Camila Iansen Irion ◽  
Guerline Lambert ◽  
Mauricio Noguera ◽  
...  

Gene therapy is a good alternative for determined congenital disorders; however, there are numerous limitations for gene delivery in vivo including targeted cellular uptake, intracellular trafficking, and transport through the nuclear membrane. Here, a modified G5 polyamidoamine (G5 PAMAM) dendrimer–DNA complex was developed, which will allow cell-specific targeting to skeletal muscle cells and transport the DNA through the intracellular machinery and the nuclear membrane. The G5 PAMAM nanocarrier was modified with a skeletal muscle-targeting peptide (SMTP), a DLC8-binding peptide (DBP) for intracellular transport, and a nuclear localization signaling peptide (NLS) for nuclear uptake, and polyplexed with plasmid DNA containing the GFP-tagged microdystrophin (µDys) gene. The delivery of µDys has been considered as a therapeutic modality for patients suffering from a debilitating Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) disorder. The nanocarrier–peptide–DNA polyplexes were prepared with different charge ratios and characterized for stability, size, surface charge, and cytotoxicity. Using the optimized nanocarrier polyplexes, the transfection efficiency in vitro was determined by demonstrating the expression of the GFP and the µDys protein using fluorescence and Western blotting studies, respectively. Protein expression in vivo was determined by injecting an optimal nanocarrier polyplex formulation to Duchenne model mice, mdx4Cv. Ultimately, these nanocarrier polyplexes will allow targeted delivery of the microdystrophin gene to skeletal muscle cells and result in improved muscle function in Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients.

2003 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 4075-4088 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Volonte ◽  
Aaron J. Peoples ◽  
Ferruccio Galbiati

Caveolae are vesicular invaginations of the plasma membrane. Caveolin-3 is the principal structural component of caveolae in skeletal muscle cells in vivo. We have recently generated caveolin-3 transgenic mice and demonstrated that overexpression of wild-type caveolin-3 in skeletal muscle fibers is sufficient to induce a Duchenne-like muscular dystrophy phenotype. In addition, we have shown that caveolin-3 null mice display mild muscle fiber degeneration and T-tubule system abnormalities. These data are consistent with the mild phenotype observed in Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy-1C (LGMD-1C) in humans, characterized by a ∼95% reduction of caveolin-3 expression. Thus, caveolin-3 transgenic and null mice represent valid mouse models to study Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and LGMD-1C, respectively, in humans. Here, we derived conditionally immortalized precursor skeletal muscle cells from caveolin-3 transgenic and null mice. We show that overexpression of caveolin-3 inhibits myoblast fusion to multinucleated myotubes and lack of caveolin-3 enhances the fusion process. M-cadherin and microtubules have been proposed to mediate the fusion of myoblasts to myotubes. Interestingly, we show that M-cadherin is downregulated in caveolin-3 transgenic cells and upregulated in caveolin-3 null cells. For the first time, variations of M-cadherin expression have been linked to a muscular dystrophy phenotype. In addition, we demonstrate that microtubules are disorganized in caveolin-3 null myotubes, indicating the importance of the cytoskeleton network in mediating the phenotype observed in these cells. Taken together, these results propose caveolin-3 as a key player in myoblast fusion and suggest that defects of the fusion process may represent additional molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of DMD and LGMD-1C in humans.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (8) ◽  
pp. e12479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Swarnali Acharyya ◽  
Sudarshana M. Sharma ◽  
Alfred S. Cheng ◽  
Katherine J. Ladner ◽  
Wei He ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 5276
Author(s):  
Coralie Croissant ◽  
Romain Carmeille ◽  
Charlotte Brévart ◽  
Anthony Bouter

Muscular dystrophies constitute a group of genetic disorders that cause weakness and progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass. Among them, Miyoshi muscular dystrophy 1 (MMD1), limb girdle muscular dystrophy type R2 (LGMDR2/2B), and LGMDR12 (2L) are characterized by mutation in gene encoding key membrane-repair protein, which leads to severe dysfunctions in sarcolemma repair. Cell membrane disruption is a physiological event induced by mechanical stress, such as muscle contraction and stretching. Like many eukaryotic cells, muscle fibers possess a protein machinery ensuring fast resealing of damaged plasma membrane. Members of the annexins A (ANXA) family belong to this protein machinery. ANXA are small soluble proteins, twelve in number in humans, which share the property of binding to membranes exposing negatively-charged phospholipids in the presence of calcium (Ca2+). Many ANXA have been reported to participate in membrane repair of varied cell types and species, including human skeletal muscle cells in which they may play a collective role in protection and repair of the sarcolemma. Here, we discuss the participation of ANXA in membrane repair of healthy skeletal muscle cells and how dysregulation of ANXA expression may impact the clinical severity of muscular dystrophies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Menglong Chen ◽  
Hui Shi ◽  
Shixue Gou ◽  
Xiaomin Wang ◽  
Lei Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Mutations in the DMD gene encoding dystrophin—a critical structural element in muscle cells—cause Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), which is the most common fatal genetic disease. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)-mediated gene editing is a promising strategy for permanently curing DMD. Methods In this study, we developed a novel strategy for reframing DMD mutations via CRISPR-mediated large-scale excision of exons 46–54. We compared this approach with other DMD rescue strategies by using DMD patient-derived primary muscle-derived stem cells (DMD-MDSCs). Furthermore, a patient-derived xenograft (PDX) DMD mouse model was established by transplanting DMD-MDSCs into immunodeficient mice. CRISPR gene editing components were intramuscularly delivered into the mouse model by adeno-associated virus vectors. Results Results demonstrated that the large-scale excision of mutant DMD exons showed high efficiency in restoring dystrophin protein expression. We also confirmed that CRISPR from Prevotella and Francisella 1(Cas12a)-mediated genome editing could correct DMD mutation with the same efficiency as CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9). In addition, more than 10% human DMD muscle fibers expressed dystrophin in the PDX DMD mouse model after treated by the large-scale excision strategies. The restored dystrophin in vivo was functional as demonstrated by the expression of the dystrophin glycoprotein complex member β-dystroglycan. Conclusions We demonstrated that the clinically relevant CRISPR/Cas9 could restore dystrophin in human muscle cells in vivo in the PDX DMD mouse model. This study demonstrated an approach for the application of gene therapy to other genetic diseases.


Author(s):  
Hye Kyoung Sung ◽  
Patricia L. Mitchell ◽  
Sean Gross ◽  
Andre Marette ◽  
Gary Sweeney

Adiponectin is well established to mediate many beneficial metabolic effects, and this has stimulated great interest in development and validation of adiponectin receptor agonists as pharmaceutical tools. This study investigated the effects of ALY688, a peptide-based adiponectin receptor agonist, in rat L6 skeletal muscle cells. ALY688 significantly increased phosphorylation of several adiponectin downstream effectors, including AMPK, ACC and p38MAPK, assessed by immunoblotting and immunofluorescence microscopy. Temporal analysis using cells expressing an Akt biosensor demonstrated that ALY688 enhanced insulin sensitivity. This effect was associated with increased insulin-stimulated Akt and IRS-1 phosphorylation. The functional metabolic significance of these signaling effects was examined by measuring glucose uptake in myoblasts stably overexpressing the glucose transporter GLUT4. ALY688 treatment both increased glucose uptake itself and enhanced insulin-stimulated glucose uptake. In the model of high glucose/high insulin (HGHI)-induced insulin resistant cells, both temporal studies using the Akt biosensor as well as immunoblotting assessing Akt and IRS-1 phosphorylation indicated that ALY688 significantly reduced insulin resistance. Importantly, we observed that ALY688 administration to high-fat high sucrose fed mice also improve glucose handling, validating its efficacy in vivo. In summary, these data indicate that ALY688 activates adiponectin signaling pathways in skeletal muscle, leading to improved insulin sensitivity and beneficial metabolic effects.


1967 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 445-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Shimada ◽  
D. A. Fischman ◽  
A. A. Moscona

Dissociated myoblasts from 12-day chick embryos were cultured in monolayer, and the differentiation of skeletal muscle cells was studied by electron microscopy. The results have revealed a striking ultrastructural similarity between the in vivo and the in vitro developing muscle, particularly with respect to the myofibrils and sarcoplasmic reticulum. This study demonstrates that all the characteristic organelles of mature skeletal muscle can develop in vitro in the absence of nerves.


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