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Recent Progress in Gene Editing Error Reduction, Volume 2 (Volume Two: Latest in Genomics Methodologies for Therapeutics: Gene Editing, NGS and BioInformatics, Simulations and the Genome Ontology), Part 2: CRISPR for Gene Editing and DNA Repair
Recent Progress in Gene Editing Error Reduction
Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP, Curator
LPBI
Advances in Genome Editing
Researchers develop a CRISPR-based technique that efficiently corrects point mutations without cleaving DNA.
Illustration of DNA ligase, one of the cell proteins involved in repairing double-strand breaks in DNA WIKIMEDIA; WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE IN ST. LOUIS, TOM ELLENBERGER
Most genetic diseases in humans are caused by point mutations—single base errors in the DNA sequence. However, current genome-editing methods cannot efficiently correct these mutations in cells, and often cause random nucleotide insertions or deletions (indels) as a byproduct. Now, researchers at Harvard University have modified CRISPR/Cas9 technology to get around these problems, creating a new “base editor,” described today (April 20) in Nature, which permanently and efficiently converts cytosine (C) to uracil (U) bases with low error in human and mouse cell lines.
“There are a lot of genetic diseases where you would want, in essence, to swap bases in and out,” said Jacob Corn, scientific director of the Innovative Genomics Initiative at the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved in the research. “Trying to get this to work is one of the big challenges in the field, and I think this is a really exciting approach.”
To date, CRISPR/Cas9 genome-editing approaches have relied on a cellular mechanism called homology-directed repair, which is triggered by double-strand breaks in DNA. Researchers supply cells with a template containing the desired sequence, make a targeted double-strand break with the Cas9 enzyme, and then wait to see whether homology-directed repair incorporates the template to reconnect the strands. Unfortunately, this method is inefficient (incorporation is rare) and often introduces new errors in the form of random indels around the break, making it impractical for therapeutic correction of point mutations.
So researchers at Harvard, led by chemist and chemical biologist David Liu, tried a different approach. First, they inactivated part of Cas9 so that it couldn’t make the double-strand break. They then tethered Cas9 to an enzyme called cytidine deaminase that directly catalyzes conversion of C to U (essentially an equivalent of thymine, T), without DNA cleavage. Sending this machinery into cells creates a mismatched pair at the target, comprising the newly introduced U, and an original guanine base (G) on the opposite strand. “This [mismatch] distorts the DNA,” Liu explained. “It creates a funny little bulge that doesn’t look normal.”
The bulge alerts a different cellular repair mechanism, mismatch repair, which removes one of the mismatched bases and replaces it with the complement to the remaining one. Without any information about which base is incorrect, mismatch repair produces the desired G to A conversion about 50 percent of the time; the rest of the time it converts the U back into a C.
But mismatch repair does incorporate further information when available: it detects tiny breaks in the DNA backbone called nicks. “Cells have evolved mismatch repair machinery to prioritize old DNA over newly synthesized DNA,” said Liu. “Newly synthesized DNA tends to have some nicks in it. So we reasoned that we could manipulate mismatch repair to favor correcting the DNA strand that we don’t want, namely the strand containing the G.”
The team again modified Cas9, this time so that it would create a nick in the nonedited, G-containing strand, while leaving the edited, U-containing strand intact. “Now the cell says, ‘Aha, there’s a mismatch here, and the base at fault must be the G, because that must be a newly synthesized strand because it has a nick in it,’” said Liu. “It will preferentially correct that G, using the other strand as a template.”
Using the technique at six loci in human cells, the team reported a targeted base correction rate of up to 37 percent, with only around 1 percent of the sequences showing indels. By contrast, a normal Cas9 editing technique tested on three of those loci showed less than one percent efficiency, and more than four percent formation of indels. The researchers also demonstrated the technique’s potential to correct disease-associated mutations by converting a variant of APOE, a gene linked with Alzheimer’s, into a lower risk version in mouse cells.
“By engineering this Cas9, they’ve figured out a really nice way to trick the cell into preferring pathways that it would normally not prefer,” said Corn. However, because the method is currently only able to convert C-G to U-A (i.e., T-A) base pairs, and in some cases edits other C bases in the immediate vicinity of the target, “it’s certainly not a panacea,” he cautioned. “It doesn’t mean that you can now cure every genetic disease out there. But there are probably going to be quite a few that fit into this category.”
The University of Oxford’s Tudor Fulga called the technique “an extremely ingenious idea” to get around inefficient homology-directed repair, and to reduce unwanted indel formation. “I think this will set up a paradigm shift in the field,” he told The Scientist. “It is very likely that the impact of Cas9-mediated base editing is going to be massive—both in terms of answering basic research questions and in genome engineering–based therapeutic applications.”
Also appearing in Nature today are two studies addressing a potential alternative to Cas9: the Cpf1 enzyme. CRISPR/Cpf1 creates “sticky ends”—overhangs in cleaved DNA that leave unpaired bases either side of the break—rather than the blunt ends made by Cas9’s double-strand DNA cleavage.
Emmanuelle Charpentier and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Germany have shown that, unlike Cas9, Cpf1 processes RNA in addition to cleaving DNA. Meanwhile, Zhiwei Huang of the Harbin Institute of Technology, China, and colleagues have described the crystal structure of CRISPR/Cpf1.
“Sticky ends are more efficient [than blunt ends] for DNA repair in cells,” Huang told The Scientist. “We believe that [understanding] the structure of Cpf1 will help us not only to know the working mechanism of Cpf1 but also to design more specific and more efficient genome-editing tools.”
D. Dong et al., “The crystal structure of Cpf1 in complex with CRISPR RNA,” Nature, doi:10.1038/nature17944, 2016.
I. Fonfara et al., “The CRISPR-associated DNA-cleaving enzyme Cpf1 also processes precursor CRISPR RNA,” Nature, doi:10.1038/nature17945, 2016.
A.C. Komor et al., “Programmable editing of a target base in genomic DNA without double-stranded DNA cleavage,” Nature, doi:10.1038/nature17946, 2016.
Programmable editing of a target base in genomic DNA without double-stranded DNA cleavage
Current genome-editing technologies introduce double-stranded (ds) DNA breaks at a target locus as the first step to gene correction1, 2. Although most genetic diseases arise from point mutations, current approaches to point mutation correction are inefficient and typically induce an abundance of random insertions and deletions (indels) at the target locus resulting from the cellular response to dsDNA breaks1, 2. Here we report the development of ‘base editing’, a new approach to genome editing that enables the direct, irreversible conversion of one target DNA base into another in a programmable manner, without requiring dsDNA backbone cleavage or a donor template. We engineered fusions of CRISPR/Cas9 and a cytidine deaminase enzyme that retain the ability to be programmed with a guide RNA, do not induce dsDNA breaks, and mediate the direct conversion of cytidine to uridine, thereby effecting a C→T (or G→A) substitution. The resulting ‘base editors’ convert cytidines within a window of approximately five nucleotides, and can efficiently correct a variety of point mutations relevant to human disease. In four transformed human and murine cell lines, second- and third-generation base editors that fuse uracil glycosylase inhibitor, and that use a Cas9 nickase targeting the non-edited strand, manipulate the cellular DNA repair response to favour desired base-editing outcomes, resulting in permanent correction of ~15–75% of total cellular DNA with minimal (typically ≤1%) indel formation. Base editing expands the scope and efficiency of genome editing of point mutations.
The CRISPR/Cas9 technique is revolutionizing genetic research: scientists have already used it to engineer crops, livestock and even human embryos, and it may one day yield new ways to treat disease.
But now one of the technique’s pioneers thinks that he has found a way to make CRISPR even simpler and more precise. In a paper published in Cell on 25 September, a team led by synthetic biologist Feng Zhang of the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, reports the discovery of a protein1 called Cpf1 that may overcome one of CRISPR/Cas9’s few limitations; although the system works well for disabling genes, it is often difficult to truly edit them by replacing one DNA sequence with another.
The CRISPR/Cas9 system evolved as a way for bacteria and archaea to defend themselves against invading viruses. It is found in a wide range of these organisms, and uses an enzyme called Cas9 to cut DNA at a site specified by ‘guide’ strands of RNA. Researchers have turned CRISPR/Cas9 into a molecular-biology powerhouse that can be used in other organisms. The cuts made by the enzyme are repaired by the cell’s natural DNA-repair processes.
Good, better, best?
CRISPR is much simpler than previous gene-editing methods, but Zhang thought there was still room for improvement.
So he and his colleagues searched the bacterial kingdom to find an alternative to the Cas9 enzyme commonly used in laboratories. In April, they reported that they had discovered a smaller version of Cas9 in the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus2. The small size makes the enzyme easier to shuttle into mature cells — a crucial destination for some potential therapies.
The team was also intrigued by Cpf1, a protein that looks very different from Cas9, but is present in some bacteria with CRISPR. The scientists evaluated Cpf1 enzymes from 16 different bacteria, eventually finding two that could cut human DNA.
They also uncovered some curious differences between how Cpf1 and Cas9 work. Cas9 requires two RNA molecules to cut DNA; Cpf1 needs only one. The proteins also cut DNA at different places, offering researchers more options when selecting a site to edit. “This opens up a lot of possibilities for all the things we could not target before,” says epigeneticist Luca Magnani of Imperial College London.
Cpf1 also cuts DNA in a different way. Cas9 cuts both strands in a DNA molecule at the same position, leaving behind what molecular biologists call ‘blunt’ ends. But Cpf1 leaves one strand longer than the other, creating a ‘sticky’ end. Blunt ends are not as easy to work with: a DNA sequence could be inserted in either end, for example, whereas a sticky end will only pair with a complementary sticky end.
“The sticky ends carry information that can direct the insertion of the DNA,” says Zhang. “It makes the insertion much more controllable.”
Zhang’s team is now working to use these sticky ends to improve the frequency with which researchers can replace a natural DNA sequence. Cuts left by Cas9 tend to be repaired by sticking the two ends back together, in a relatively sloppy repair process that can leave errors. Although it is possible that the cell will instead insert a designated, new sequence at that site, that kind of repair occurs at a much lower frequency. Zhang hopes that the unique properties of how Cpf1 cuts may be harnessed to make such insertions more frequent.
For Bing Yang, a plant biologist at the Iowa State University in Ames, this is the most exciting aspect of Cpf1. “Boosting the efficiency would be a big step for plant science,” he says. “Right now, it is a major challenge.”
Will the new enzyme surpass Cas9 in popularity? “It’s too early to tell,” says Zhang. “It certainly has some distinct advantages.” The CRISPR/Cas9 system is so popular — and potentially lucrative — that it has sparked a fierce patent fight between the University of California, Berkeley, and the Broad Institute and its ally, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. Zhang says that his lab will make the CRISPR/Cpf1 components available to academic researchers, as it has done with its CRISPR/Cas9 tools.
For now, the results stand as a testament that researchers still have more to learn from the genome-editing systems that bacteria have evolved. “This study powerfully demonstrates that the natural evolutionary diversity of CRISPR systems is rich with potential solutions to the challenges facing the use of genome-editing agents,” says David Liu, a chemical biologist at Harvard University in Cambridge. (Zhang and Liu are both scientific advisers to Editas Medicine, a company in Cambridge that aims to develop CRISPR-based therapies.)
Microbiologist John van der Oost of Wageningen University in the Netherlands, who collaborated on the latest study with Zhang, plans to keep searching for new methods. “You never know whether one of these systems will be suitable for genome editing,” he says. “There are still surprises ahead of us.”
•Cpf1 is a CRISPR-associated two-component RNA-programmable DNA nuclease
•Targeted DNA is cleaved as a 5-nt staggered cut distal to a 5′ T-rich PAM
•Two Cpf1 orthologs exhibit robust nuclease activity in human cells
The microbial adaptive immune system CRISPR mediates defense against foreign genetic elements through two classes of RNA-guided nuclease effectors. Class 1 effectors utilize multi-protein complexes, whereas class 2 effectors rely on single-component effector proteins such as the well-characterized Cas9. Here, we report characterization of Cpf1, a putative class 2 CRISPR effector. We demonstrate that Cpf1 mediates robust DNA interference with features distinct from Cas9. Cpf1 is a single RNA-guided endonuclease lacking tracrRNA, and it utilizes a T-rich protospacer-adjacent motif. Moreover, Cpf1 cleaves DNA via a staggered DNA double-stranded break. Out of 16 Cpf1-family proteins, we identified two candidate enzymes from Acidaminococcus and Lachnospiraceae, with efficient genome-editing activity in human cells. Identifying this mechanism of interference broadens our understanding of CRISPR-Cas systems and advances their genome editing applications.
CRISPR–Cas systems that provide defence against mobile genetic elements in bacteria and archaea have evolved a variety of mechanisms to target and cleave RNA or DNA1. The well-studied types I, II and III utilize a set of distinct CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins for production of mature CRISPR RNAs (crRNAs) and interference with invading nucleic acids. In types I and III, Cas6 or Cas5d cleaves precursor crRNA (pre-crRNA)2, 3, 4, 5 and the mature crRNAs then guide a complex of Cas proteins (Cascade-Cas3, type I; Csm or Cmr, type III) to target and cleave invading DNA or RNA6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. In type II systems, RNase III cleaves pre-crRNA base-paired withtrans-activating crRNA (tracrRNA) in the presence of Cas9 (refs 13, 14). The mature tracrRNA–crRNA duplex then guides Cas9 to cleave target DNA15. Here, we demonstrate a novel mechanism in CRISPR–Cas immunity. We show that type V-A Cpf1 from Francisella novicida is a dual-nuclease that is specific to crRNA biogenesis and target DNA interference. Cpf1 cleaves pre-crRNA upstream of a hairpin structure formed within the CRISPR repeats and thereby generates intermediate crRNAs that are processed further, leading to mature crRNAs. After recognition of a 5′-YTN-3′ protospacer adjacent motif on the non-target DNA strand and subsequent probing for an eight-nucleotide seed sequence, Cpf1, guided by the single mature repeat-spacer crRNA, introduces double-stranded breaks in the target DNA to generate a 5′ overhang16. The RNase and DNase activities of Cpf1 require sequence- and structure-specific binding to the hairpin of crRNA repeats. Cpf1 uses distinct active domains for both nuclease reactions and cleaves nucleic acids in the presence of magnesium or calcium. This study uncovers a new family of enzymes with specific dual endoribonuclease and endonuclease activities, and demonstrates that type V-A constitutes the most minimalistic of the CRISPR–Cas systems so far described.
The crystal structure of Cpf1 in complex with CRISPR RNA
The CRISPR–Cas systems, as exemplified by CRISPR–Cas9, are RNA-guided adaptive immune systems used by bacteria and archaea to defend against viral infection1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. The CRISPR–Cpf1 system, a new class 2 CRISPR–Cas system, mediates robust DNA interference in human cells1, 8, 9, 10. Although functionally conserved, Cpf1 and Cas9 differ in many aspects including their guide RNAs and substrate specificity. Here we report the 2.38 Å crystal structure of the CRISPR RNA (crRNA)-bound Lachnospiraceae bacterium ND2006 Cpf1 (LbCpf1). LbCpf1 has a triangle-shaped architecture with a large positively charged channel at the centre. Recognized by the oligonucleotide-binding domain of LbCpf1, the crRNA adopts a highly distorted conformation stabilized by extensive intramolecular interactions and the (Mg(H2O)6)2+ ion. The oligonucleotide-binding domain also harbours a looped-out helical domain that is important for LbCpf1 substrate binding. Binding of crRNA or crRNA lacking the guide sequence induces marked conformational changes but no oligomerization of LbCpf1. Our study reveals the crRNA recognition mechanism and provides insight into crRNA-guided substrate binding of LbCpf1, establishing a framework for engineering LbCpf1 to improve its efficiency and specificity for genome editing
Pinchas Cohen led a team that identified tiny proteins that appear to play a role in controlling how the body ages. (Photo/Beth Newcomb)
A group of six newly discovered proteins may help to divulge secrets of how we age, potentially unlocking insights into diabetes, Alzheimer’s, cancer and other aging-related diseases.
The tiny proteins appear to play several big roles in our bodies’ cells, from decreasing the amount of damaging free radicals and controlling the rate at which cells die to boosting metabolism and helping tissues throughout the body respond better to insulin. The naturally occurring amounts of each protein decrease with age, leading researchers to believe that they play an important role in the aging process and the onset of diseases linked to older age.
The research team led by Pinchas Cohen, dean of the USC Davis School of Gerontology, identified the tiny proteins for the first time and observed their surprising origin from organelles in the cell called mitochondria and their game-changing roles in metabolism and cell survival. This latest finding builds upon prior research by Cohen and his team that uncovered two significant proteins, humanin and MOTS-c, hormones that appear to have significant roles in metabolism and diseases of aging.
Unlike most other proteins, humanin and MOTS-c are encoded in mitochondria, the structure within cells that produces energy from food, instead of in the cell’s nucleus where most genes are contained.
Key functions
Mitochondria have their own small collection of genes, which were once thought to play only minor roles within cells but now appear to have important functions throughout the body. Cohen’s team used computer analysis to see if the part of the mitochondrial genome that provides the code for humanin was coding for other proteins as well. The analysis uncovered the genes for six new proteins, which were dubbed small humanin-like peptides, or SHLPs, 1 through 6 (the name of this hardworking group of proteins is appropriately pronounced “schlep”).
After identifying the six SHLPs and successfully developing antibodies to test for several of them, the team examined both mouse tissues and human cells to determine their abundance in different organs as well as their functions. The proteins were distributed quite differently among organs, which suggests that the proteins have varying functions based on where they are in the body.
Of particular interest is SHLP 2, Cohen said. The protein appears to have profound insulin-sensitizing, anti-diabetic effects as well as potent neuro-protective activity that may emerge as a strategy to combat Alzheimer’s disease. He added that SHLP 6 is also intriguing, with a unique ability to promote cancer cell death and thus potentially target malignant diseases.
“Together with the previously identified mitochondrial peptides, the newly recognized SHLP family expands the understanding of the mitochondria as an intracellular signaling organelle that communicates with the rest of the body to regulate metabolism and cell fate,” Cohen said. “The findings are an important advance that will be ripe for rapid translation into drug development for diseases of aging.”
The study first appeared online in the journal Aging on April 10. Cohen’s research team included collaborators from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine; the findings have been licensed to the biotechnology company CohBar for possible drug development.
The research was supported by a Glenn Foundation Award and National Institutes of Health grants to Cohen (1P01AG034906, 1R01AG 034430, 1R01GM 090311, 1R01ES 020812) and an Ellison/AFAR postdoctoral fellowship to Kelvin Yen. Study authors Laura Cobb, Changhan Lee, Nir Barzilai and Pinchas Cohen are consultants and stockholders of CohBar Inc.
On a blazingly hot morning this past June, a half-dozen scientists convened in a hotel conference room in suburban Maryland for the dress rehearsal of what they saw as a landmark event in the history of aging research. In a few hours, the group would meet with officials at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a few kilometers away, to pitch an unprecedented clinical trial—nothing less than the first test of a drug to specifically target the process of human aging.
“We think this is a groundbreaking, perhaps paradigm-shifting trial,” said Steven Austad, chairman of biology at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, and scientific director of the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR). After Austad’s brief introductory remarks, a scientist named Nir Barzilai tuned up his PowerPoint and launched into a practice run of the main presentation.
Barzilai is a former Israeli army medical officer and head of a well-known study of centenarians based at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York. To anyone who has seen the ebullient scientist in his natural laboratory habitat, often in a short-sleeved shirt and always cracking jokes, he looked uncharacteristically kempt in a blue blazer and dress khakis. But his practice run kept hitting a historical speed bump. He had barely begun to explain the rationale for the trial when he mentioned, in passing, “lots of unproven, untested treatments under the category of anti-aging.” His colleagues pounced.
“Nir,” interrupted S. Jay Olshansky, a biodemographer of aging from the University of Illinois, Chicago. The phrase “anti-aging … has an association that is negative.”
“I wouldn’t dignify them by calling them ‘treatments,’” added Michael Pollak, director of cancer prevention at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. “They’re products.”
Barzilai, a 59-year-old with a boyish mop of gray hair, wore a contrite grin. “We know the FDA is concerned about this,” he conceded, and deleted the offensive phrase.
Then he proceeded to lay out the details of an ambitious clinical trial. The group—academics all—wanted to conduct a double-blind study of roughly 3000 elderly people; half would get a placebo and half would get an old (indeed, ancient) drug for type 2 diabetes called metformin, which has been shown to modify aging in some animal studies. Because there is still no accepted biomarker for aging, the drug’s success would be judged by an unusual standard—whether it could delay the development of several diseases whose incidence increases dramatically with age: cardiovascular disease, cancer, and cognitive decline, along with mortality. When it comes to these diseases, Barzilai is fond of saying, “aging is a bigger risk factor than all of the other factors combined.”
But the phrase “anti-aging” kept creeping into the rehearsal, and critics kept jumping in. “Okay,” Barzilai said with a laugh when it came up again. “Third time, the death penalty.”
The group’s paranoia about the term “anti-aging” captured both the audacity of the proposed trial and the cultural challenge of venturing into medical territory historically associated with charlatans and quacks. The metformin initiative, which Barzilai is generally credited with spearheading, is unusual by almost any standard of drug development. The people pushing for the trial are all academics, none from industry (although Barzilai is co-founder of a biotech company, CohBar Inc., that is working to develop drugs targeting age-related diseases). The trial would be sponsored by the nonprofit AFAR, not a pharmaceutical company. No one stood to make money if the drug worked, the scientists all claimed; indeed, metformin is not only generic, costing just a few cents a dose, but belongs to a class of drugs that has been part of the human apothecary for 500 years. Patient safety was unlikely to be an issue; millions of diabetics have taken metformin since the 1960s, and its generally mild side effects are well-known.
Finally, the metformin group insisted they didn’t need a cent of federal money to proceed (although they do intend to ask for some). Nor did they need formal approval from FDA to proceed. But they very much wanted the agency’s blessing. By recognizing the merit of such a trial, Barzilai believes, FDA would make aging itself a legitimate target for drug development.
By the time the scientists were done, the rehearsal—which was being filmed for a television documentary—had the feel of a pep rally. They spoke with unguarded optimism. “What we’re talking about here,” Olshansky said, “is a fundamental sea change in how we look at aging and disease.” To Austad, it is “the key, potentially, to saving the health care system.”
As the group piled into a van for the drive to FDA headquarters, there was more talk about setting precedents and opening doors. So it was a little disconcerting when Austad led the delegation up to the main entrance of FDA—and couldn’t get the door open. ……
Mitochondrial Peptides Found in a Preclinical Study Seen to Control Cell Metabolism
CohBar, a developer of mitochondria-based therapeutics, announced that preclinical research by its academic collaborators has found small humanin-like peptides (SHLPs) that can control metabolism and cell survival. The findings have implications for age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cancer.
Researchers discovered the SHLPs by examining the genome of mitochondria with the help of a bioinformatics approach, which identified six peptides. The team then verified the presence of the factors and explored their function in laboratory animals.
CohBar, who have the exclusive license to develop SHLPs into therapeutics, works closely with its academic partners to explore the peptides in preclinical models.
While it was previously believed that mitochondria only have 37 genes, research has revealed that the mitochondrial genome is far more versatile, potentially harboring a multitude of new genes, which can encode peptides acting as cellular signaling factors. The peptides, it has turned out, have shown neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects, and act to protect cells in disease-modifying ways in preclinical models of aging.
CohBar’s goal is to bring these peptides to the market as therapies for age-related diseases, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cancer, atherosclerosis and neurodegenerative disorders.
“Together with the previously described mitochondrial-derived peptides humanin and MOTS-c, the SHLP family expands our understanding of the role that these peptides play in intracellular signaling throughout the body to regulate both metabolism and cell survival,” Pinchas Cohen, dean of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, founder and director of CohBar, and the study’s senior author, said in a press release. “These findings further illustrate the enormous potential that mitochondria-based therapeutics could have on treating age-associated diseases like Alzheimer’s and cancer.”
“The pre-clinical evidence continues to confirm that these peptides represent a new class of naturally occurring metabolic regulators,” added Simon Allen, CohBar’s CEO. “They form the foundation of our pipeline of first-in-class treatments for age-related diseases, and we are committed to rapidly advancing them through pre-clinical and clinical activities as we move forward.”
Naturally occurring mitochondrial-derived peptides are age-dependent regulators of apoptosis, insulin sensitivity, and inflammatory markers
Laura J. Cobb1,5, Changhan Lee2, Jialin Xiao2, Kelvin Yen2, Richard G. Wong2, Hiromi K. Nakamura1, ….., Derek M. Huffman4, Junxiang Wan2, Radhika Muzumdar3, Nir Barzilai4 , and Pinchas Cohen2 http://www.impactaging.com/papers/v8/n4/full/100943.html
Mitochondria are key players in aging and in the pathogenesis of age-related diseases. Recent mitochondrial transcriptome analyses revealed the existence of multiple small mRNAs transcribed from mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Humanin (HN), a peptide encoded in the mtDNA 16S ribosomal RNA region, is a neuroprotective factor. An in silico search revealed six additional peptides in the same region of mtDNA as humanin; we named these peptides small humanin-like peptides (SHLPs). We identified the functional roles for these peptides and the potential mechanisms of action. The SHLPs differed in their ability to regulate cell viability in vitro. We focused on SHLP2 and SHLP3 because they shared similar protective effects with HN. Specifically, they significantly reduced apoptosis and the generation of reactive oxygen species, and improved mitochondrial metabolism in vitro. SHLP2 and SHLP3 also enhanced 3T3-L1 pre-adipocyte differentiation. Systemic hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp studies showed that intracerebrally infused SHLP2 increased glucose uptake and suppressed hepatic glucose production, suggesting that it functions as an insulin sensitizer both peripherally and centrally. Similar to HN, the levels of circulating SHLP2 were found to decrease with age. These results suggest that mitochondria play critical roles in metabolism and survival through the synthesis of mitochondrial peptides, and provide new insights into mitochondrial biology with relevance to aging and human biology.
Human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is a double-stranded, circular molecule of 16,569 bp and contains 37 genes encoding 13 proteins, 22 tRNAs, and 2 rRNAs. Recent mitochondrial transcriptome analyses revealed the existence of small RNAs derived from mtDNA [1]. In 2001, Nishimoto and colleagues identified humanin (HN), a 24-amino-acid peptide encoded from the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) region of mtDNA. HN is a potent neuroprotective factor capable of antagonizing Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-related cellular insults [2]. HN is a component of a novel retrograde signaling pathway from the mitochondria to the nucleus, which is distinct from mitochondrial signaling pathways, such as the SIRT4-AMPK pathway [3]. HN-dependent cellular protection is mediated in part by interacting with and antagonizing pro-apoptotic Bax-related peptides [4] and IGFBP-3 (IGF binding protein 3) [5].
Because of their involvement in energy production and free radical generation, mitochondria likely play a major role in aging and age-related diseases [6–8]. In fact, improvement of mitochondrial function has been shown to ameliorate age-related memory loss in aged mice [9]. Recent studies have shown that HN levels decrease with age, suggesting that HN could play a role in aging and age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), atherosclerosis, and diabetes. Along with lower HN levels in the hypothalamus, skeletal muscle, and cortex of older rodents, the circulating levels of HN were found to decline with age in both humans and mice [10]. Notably, circulating HN levels were found to be (i) significantly higher in long-lived Ames dwarf mice but lower in short-lived growth hormone (GH) transgenic mice, (ii) significantly higher in a GH-deficient cohort of patients with Laron syndrome, and (iii) reduced in mice and humans treated with GH or IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1) [11]. Age-dependent declines in the circulating HN levels may be due to higher levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that contribute to atherosclerosis development. Using mouse models of atherosclerosis, it was found that HN-treated mice had a reduced disease burden and significant health improvements [12,13]. In addition, HN improved insulin sensitivity, suggesting clinical potential for mitochondrial peptides in diseases of aging [10]. The discovery of HN represents a unique addition to the spectrum of roles that mitochondria play in the cell [14,15]. A second mitochondrial-derived peptide (MDP), MOTS-c (mitochondrial open reading frame of the 12S rRNA-c), has also been shown to have metabolic effects on muscle and may also play a role in aging [16].
We further investigated mtDNA for the presence of other MDPs. Recent technological advances have led to the identification of small open reading frames (sORFs) in the nuclear genomes ofDrosophila[17,18] and mammals [19,20]. Therefore, we attempted to identify novel sORFs using the following approaches: 1) in silico identification of potential sORFs; 2) determination of mRNA expression levels; 3) development of specific antibodies against these novel peptides to allow for peptide detection in cells, organs, and plasma; 4) elucidating the actions of these peptides by performing cell-based assays for mitochondrial function, signaling, viability, and differentiation; and 5) delivering these peptides in vivo to determine their systemic metabolic effects. Focusing on the 16S rRNA region of the mtDNA where the humanin gene is located, we identified six sORFs and named them small humanin-like peptides (SHLPs) 1-6. While surveying the biological effects of SHLPs, we found that SHLP2 and SHLP3 were cytoprotective; therefore, we investigated their effects on apoptosis and metabolism in greater detail. Further, we showed that circulating SHLP2 levels declined with age, similar to HN, suggesting that SHLP2 is involved in aging and age-related disease progression.
SHLP2 and SHLP3 regulate the expression of metabolic and inflammatory markers
Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that increased levels of mediators of inflammation and acute-phase reactants, such as fibrinogen, C-reactive protein (CRP), and IL-6, correlate with the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) [34–36]. In humans, anti-inflammatory drugs, such as aspirin and sodium salicylate, reduce fasting plasma glucose levels and ameliorate the symptoms of T2DM. In addition, anti-diabetic drugs, such as fibrates [37] and thiazolidinediones [38], have been found to lower some markers of inflammation. SHLP2 increased the levels of leptin, which is known to improve insulin sensitivity, but had no effect on the levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and MCP-1. SHLP3 significantly increased the leptin levels, but also elevated IL-6 and MCP-1 levels, which could explain the lack of an in vivo insulin-sensitizing effect of SHLP3. The mechanism by which SHLPs regulate the expression of metabolic and inflammatory markers remains unclear and needs to be further investigated. Furthermore, SHLPs have different effects on inflammatory marker expression, suggesting differential regulation and function of individual SHLPs.
SHLP2 in aging
Mitochondria have been implicated in increased lifespan in several life-extending treatments [39,40]; however, it is not known whether the relationship is correlative or causative [40]. Additionally, it is well known that hormone levels change with aging. For example, levels of aldosterone, calcitonin, growth hormone, and IGF-I decrease with age. Circulating HN levels decline with age in humans and rodents, specifically in the hypothalamus and skeletal muscle of older rats. These changes parallel increases in the incidence of age-associated diseases such as AD and T2DM. The decline in circulating SHLP2 levels with age (Fig. 6), the anti-oxidative stress function of SHLP2 (Fig. 3C), and its neuroprotective effect (Fig. 6B) indicate that SHLP2 has a role in the regulation of aging and age-related diseases.
Conclusion
By analyzing the mitochondrial transcriptome, we found that sORFs from mitochondrial DNA encode functional peptides. We identified many mRNA transcripts within 13 protein-coding mitochondrial genes [1]. Such previously underappreciated sORFs have also been described in the nuclear genome [41]. The MDPs we describe here may represent retrograde communication signals from the mitochondria to the nucleus and may explain important aspects of mitochondrial biology that are implicated in health and longevity.
Larry, John Walker is working on mt proteins dynamics. His rotor – stator mechanism in ATPase synthase, a ‘complex’ that biologist accepted as energy generator is likely wrong. I was suppose to have met him in Germany few years ago. Energy in biological systems has nothing to do with heat. Heat is an outcome of a reaction, meaning that IR spectra accordingly to wave theory is a source of information memorized in water interference with carbon open systems within protein and glyo-proteins complexes as well as genome space-time outcomes. Physically speaking from a pure perspective of science ATP is highly unstable form of phosphate ‘chains’. It cannot hold energy, it is actually in contrary, it is like a resonator, trapping negativity, thus functioning as space propeller by expanding carbon skeleton of protein ‘machines’ Now, we don’t know what is ‘aging’ in a pure physical sense, except that we observe structural changes in what we call complexes. We we know is that proteins are not stationary structures, but highly dynamic forms of matter, seemingly occupying discrete and relative spaces. A piece of mt ATP ase could be discovered in the nucleus as transcription factor. Our notion of operational space in terms of electro dynamics from a motor – stator perspective is now translated toward defining semi conducting and supracoductive strings. The reality of which is so much more fascinating and beautiful as time progresses overally. There are spaces where time does not change, and there are spaces where time walks, and there are spaces, where time flies, and there are spaces where time runs. Amazing, indeed! The story of aging gets a lot deeper that science could even imagine, probably to roots of immortal energy- spaces. We know that matter is transient, that is nearly all living matter, replenishes of about 3 to 7 weeks.
Take a glass full of some kind of liquid, you know the mass of the glass and the mass of the liquid (say wine, beer, water, or milk) You also know to an approximate reality the composition of both. Now lift the glass full of liquid and let it break on a surface of your choice. Depending on the surface pieces of the glass would travel differential from a center projected by the vertical axis of your hand. What technology does today is recollecting those pieces and modelling them to fit in a form again that would resemble a holding device, a glass. The liquid we don’t know exactly how it spilled due the nature of its absorbancy of both surface physics and physical ‘state’ properties. Thus we can say how much approximate energy we have held thinking of m/z as time flight objectives. Each technology can read 1D and approximate the 2D, absolutely lacking computational methodology for 3D dynamic reality. Many scientists confuse space and volume. Volume is a one dimensional characteristic! So is crystalography! BY taking quantum chemical method computing principles following imaginative rules we could approach 2D, however , that is not enough to define 3D. Time we use as a reference frame of clocks we have invented in order to keep track of a sense to observable ‘change’ . But remember, time is absolute and parallel in continuity while energy is discrete , coming in quantum packages, realization of accumulated information. Information is highly redundant we see, so annotating information is an objective to modern days simulations that could predict outcomes of possible parallel realities we call worlds. One could ‘jump’ from one reality to another through guidance of light and water, but what remains unsolved is why people make mistakes, constantly by accusing in name of greed and power , or disobedience of commandments of the Lord!
On Thu, Apr 21, 2016 at 3:41 AM, Leaders in Pharmaceutical Business Intelligence (LPBI) Group wrote:
> larryhbern posted: “New Insights into mtDNA, mitochondrial proteins, > aging, and metabolic control Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP, Curator LPBI > Newly discovered proteins may protect against age-related illnesses The > proteins could play a key role in the ” >
Metabolic features of the cell danger response
– Mitochondria in Health and Disease
The Cell Danger Response (CDR) is defined in terms of an ancient metabolic response to threat.
The CDR encompasses inflammation, innate immunity, oxidative stress, and the ER stress response.
The CDR is maintained by extracellular nucleotide (purinergic) signaling.
Abnormal persistence of the CDR lies at the heart of many chronic diseases.
Antipurinergic therapy (APT) has proven effective in many chronic disorders in animal models
The cell danger response (CDR) is the evolutionarily conserved metabolic response that protects cells and hosts from harm. It is triggered by encounters with chemical, physical, or biological threats that exceed the cellular capacity for homeostasis. The resulting metabolic mismatch between available resources and functional capacity produces a cascade of changes in cellular electron flow, oxygen consumption, redox, membrane fluidity, lipid dynamics, bioenergetics, carbon and sulfur resource allocation, protein folding and aggregation, vitamin availability, metal homeostasis, indole, pterin, 1-carbon and polyamine metabolism, and polymer formation. The first wave of danger signals consists of the release of metabolic intermediates like ATP and ADP, Krebs cycle intermediates, oxygen, and reactive oxygen species (ROS), and is sustained by purinergic signaling. After the danger has been eliminated or neutralized, a choreographed sequence of anti-inflammatory and regenerative pathways is activated to reverse the CDR and to heal. When the CDR persists abnormally, whole body metabolism and the gut microbiome are disturbed, the collective performance of multiple organ systems is impaired, behavior is changed, and chronic disease results. Metabolic memory of past stress encounters is stored in the form of altered mitochondrial and cellular macromolecule content, resulting in an increase in functional reserve capacity through a process known as mitocellular hormesis. The systemic form of the CDR, and its magnified form, the purinergic life-threat response (PLTR), are under direct control by ancient pathways in the brain that are ultimately coordinated by centers in the brainstem. Chemosensory integration of whole body metabolism occurs in the brainstem and is a prerequisite for normal brain, motor, vestibular, sensory, social, and speech development. An understanding of the CDR permits us to reframe old concepts of pathogenesis for a broad array of chronic, developmental, autoimmune, and degenerative disorders. These disorders include autism spectrum disorders (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), asthma, atopy, gluten and many other food and chemical sensitivity syndromes, emphysema, Tourette’s syndrome, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), traumatic brain injury (TBI), epilepsy, suicidal ideation, organ transplant biology, diabetes, kidney, liver, and heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer and Parkinson disease, and autoimmune disorders like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and primary sclerosing cholangitis.
This is a confocal microscopy image of human fibroblasts derived from embryonic stem cells. The nuclei appear in blue, while smaller and more numerous mitochondria appear in red. [Shoukhrat Mitalipov]
Mutations in our mitochondrial DNA tend to be inconspicuous, but they can become more prevalent as we age. They can even vary in frequency from cell to cell. Naturally, some cells will be relatively compromised because they happen to have a higher percentage of mutated mitochondrial DNA. Such cells make a poor basis for stem cell lines. They should be excluded. But how?
To answer this question, a team of scientists scrutinized skin fibroblasts, blood cells, and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for mitochondrial genome integrity. When the scientists tested the samples for mitochondrial DNA mutations, the levels of mutations appeared low. But when the scientists sequenced the iPS cell lines, they found higher numbers of mitochondrial DNA mutations, particularly in cells from patients over 60.
The scientists were led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov, Ph.D., director of the Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy at Oregon Health & Science University, and Taosheng Huang, M.D., a medical geneticist and director of the Mitochondrial Medicine Program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. The Mitalipov/Huang-led team also found higher percentages of mitochondria containing mutations within a cell. The higher the load of mutated mitochondrial DNA in a cell, the more compromised the cell’s function.
Since each iPSC line is created from a different cell, each line may contain different types of mitochondrial DNA mutations and mutation loads. To choose the least damaged line, the authors recommend screening multiple lines per patient. “It’s a good idea to check the iPS clones for mitochondrial DNA mutations and make sure you pick a good cell line,” said Dr. Huang.
This recommendation appeared April 14 in the journal Cell Stem Cell, in an article entitled, “Age-Related Accumulation of Somatic Mitochondrial DNA Mutations in Adult-Derived Human iPSCs.” This article holds that mitochondrial genome integrity is a vital readout in assessing the proficiency of patient-derived regenerative products destined for clinical applications.
“We found that pooled skin and blood mtDNA contained low heteroplasmic point mutations, but a panel of ten individual iPSC lines from each tissue or clonally expanded fibroblasts carried an elevated load of heteroplasmic or homoplasmic mutations, suggesting that somatic mutations randomly arise within individual cells but are not detectable in whole tissues,” wrote the article’s authors. “The frequency of mtDNA defects in iPSCs increased with age, and many mutations were nonsynonymous or resided in RNA coding genes and thus can lead to respiratory defects.”
Potential therapies using stem cells hold tremendous promise for treating human disease. However, defects in the mitochondria could undermine the iPS cells’ ability to repair damaged tissue or organs.
“If you want to use iPS cells in a human, you must check for mutations in the mitochondrial genome,” declared Dr. Huang. “Every single cell can be different. Two cells next to each other could have different mutations or different percentages of mutations.”
Prior to the creation of a therapeutic iPS cell line, a collection of cells is taken from the patient. These cells will be tested for mutations. If the tester uses Sanger sequencing, older technology that is not as sensitive as newer next-generation sequencing, any mutation that occurs in less than 20% of the sample will go undetected. But mitochondrial DNA mutations might occur in less than 20% of mitochondria in the pooled cells. As a result, mutation rates have not been well understood. “These mitochondrial mutations are actually hidden,” explained Dr. Mitalipov.
The mitochondrial genome is relatively small, containing just 37 genes, so screening should be feasible using next generation sequencing, Dr. Mitalipov added. “It should be relatively cheap and do-able.”
Dr. Mitalipov also commented on a more general point, the implications of the current study on illuminating the mechanisms of age-related disease: “Pathogenic mutations in our mitochondrial DNA have long been thought to be a driving force in aging and age-onset diseases, though clear evidence was missing. This foundational knowledge of how cells are damaged in the natural process of aging may help to illuminate the role of mutated mitochondria in degenerative disease.”
A new paperfrom Shoukhrat Mitalipov’s lab on stem cell mitochondria points to a pattern whereby induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells tend to have more problems if they are from older patients.
What does this paper mean for the stem cell field and could it impact more specifically the clinical applications of IPS cells?
The new paper Kang, et al is entitled “Age-Related Accumulation of Somatic Mitochondrial DNA Mutations in Adult-Derived Human iPSCs”.
This paper reminds us of the very important realities that mitochondria are key players in stem cell function and that mitochondria have their own genomes that impact that function. A lot of us don’t think about mitochondria and their genome as often as we should.
The paper came to three major scientific conclusions (this from the Highlights section of the paper and also see the graphical abstract for a visual sense of the results overall):
Human iPSC clones derived from elderly adults show accumulation of mtDNA mutations
Fewer mtDNA mutations are present in ESCs and iPSCs derived from younger adults
Accumulated mtDNA mutations can impact metabolic function in iPSCs
Importantly the team looked at IPS cells derived from both blood and skin cells and found that the former were less likely to have mitochondrial mutations.
This study suggests that those teams producing or working with human IPS cells (hIPSCs) should be screening the different lines for mitochondrial mutations. This excellent piece from Sara Reardon on the Mitalipov paper quotes IPS cell expert Jeanne Loring on this very point:
“It’s one of those things most of us don’t think about,” says Jeanne Loring, a stem-cell biologist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. Her lab is working towards using iPS cells to treat Parkinson’s disease, and Loring now plans to go back and examine the mitochondria in her cell lines. She suspects that it will be fairly easy for researchers to screen cells for use in therapies.”
Mitalipov goes further and suggests that his team’s new findings could support the use of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) derived by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) which would be expected to have mitochondria with fewer mutations. However, as Loring points out in the Reardon article, SCNT is really difficult to successfully perform and only a few labs in the world can do it at present. In that context, working with hIPSC and adding on the additional layer of mitochondrial DNA mutation screening could be more practical.
New York stem cell researcher Dieter Egli, however, is quoted that hIPSC have other differences with hESC as well such as epigenetic differences and he’s quoted in the Reardon piece, “It’s going to be very hard to find a cell line that’s perfect.”
One might reasonably ask both Egli and oneself, “What is a perfect cell line”?
In the end the best approach for use of human pluripotent stem cells of any kind is going to involve a balance between practicality of production and the potentially positive or negative traits of those cells as determined by rigorous validation screening.
With this new paper we’ve just learned more about another layer of screening that is needed. An interesting question is whether adult stem cells such as mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSC) also should be screened for mitochondrial mutations. They are often produced from patients who are getting up there in years. I hope that someone will publish on that too.
As to pluripotent cells, I expect that sometimes the best lines, meaning those most perfect for a given clinical application, will be hIPSC (autologous or allogeneic in some instances) and in other cases they may be hESC made from leftover IVF embryos. If SCNT-derived hESC can be more widely produced in an affordable manner and they pass validation as well then those (sometimes called NT-hESC) may also come into play clinically. So far that hasn’t happened for the SCNT cells, but it may over time. …..
Age-Related Accumulation of Somatic Mitochondrial DNA Mutations in Adult-Derived Human iPSCs
In Brief Mitalipov, Huang, and colleagues show that human iPSCs derived from older adults carry more mitochondrial DNA mutations than those derived from younger individuals. Defects in metabolic function caused by mtDNA mutations suggest careful screening of hiPSC clones for mutational load before clinical application.
Highlights
Human iPSC clones derived from elderly adults show accumulation of mtDNA mutations
Fewer mtDNA mutations are present in ESCs and iPSCs derived from younger adults
Accumulated mtDNA mutations can impact metabolic function in iPSCs
The genetic integrity of iPSCs is an important consideration for therapeutic application. In this study, we examine the accumulation of somatic mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) mutations in skin fibroblasts, blood, and iPSCs derived from young and elderly subjects (24–72 years). We found that pooled skin and blood mtDNA contained low heteroplasmic point mutations, but a panel of ten individual iPSC lines from each tissue or clonally expanded fibroblasts carried an elevated load of heteroplasmic or homoplasmic mutations, suggesting that somatic mutations randomly arise within individual cells but are not detectable in whole tissues. The frequency of mtDNA defects in iPSCs increased with age, and many mutations were non-synonymous or resided in RNA coding genes and thus can lead to respiratory defects. Our results highlight a need to monitor mtDNA mutations in iPSCs, especially those generated from older patients, and to examine the metabolic status of iPSCs destined for clinical applications.
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) offer an unlimited source for autologous cell replacement therapies to treat age-associated degenerative diseases. Aging is generally characterized by increased DNA damage and genomic instability (Garinis et al., 2008; Lombard et al., 2005); thus, iPSCs derived from elderly subjects may harbor point mutations and larger genomic rearrangements. Indeed, iPSCs display increased chromosome aberrations (Mayshar et al., 2010), subchromosomal copy number variations (CNVs) (Abyzov et al., 2012; Laurent et al., 2011), and exome mutations (Johannesson et al., 2014), compared to natural embryonic stem cell (ESC) counterparts (Ma et al., 2014). The rate of mtDNA mutations is believed to be at least 10- to 20-fold higher than that observed in the nuclear genome (Wallace, 1994), and often both mutated and wild-type mtDNA (heteroplasmy) can coexist in the same cell (Rossignol et al., 2003). Large deletions are most frequently observed mtDNA abnormalities in aged post-mitotic tissues such as brain, heart, and muscle (Bender et al., 2006; Bua et al., 2006; Corral-Debrinski et al., 1992; Cortopassi et al., 1992; Mohamed et al., 2006) and have been implicated in aging and diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and diabetes (Larsson, 2010; Lin and Beal, 2006; Petersen et al., 2003; Wallace, 2005). In addition, mtDNA point mutations were reported in some tumors and replicating tissues (Chatterjee et al., 2006; Ju et al., 2014; Michikawa et al., 1999; Taylor et al., 2003). However, the extent of mtDNA defects in proliferating peripheral tissues commonly used for iPSC induction, such as skin and blood, is thought to be low and limited to common non-coding variants (Schon et al., 2012; Yao et al., 2015). Accumulation of mtDNA variants in these tissues with age was insignificant (Greaves et al., 2010; Hashizume et al., 2015). Several point mutations were identified in iPSCs generated from the newborn foreskin fibroblasts, although most of these variants were non-coding, common for the general population, and did not affect their metabolic activity (Prigione et al., 2011). Somatic mtDNA mutations may be under-reported secondary to the level of sample interrogation. …..
Figure 2. mtDNA Mutations in Skin Fibroblasts, Blood, and the iPSCs of a 72-YearOld B Subject (A) Sixteen mutations at low heteroplasmy levels were detected in the DNA of PF, while a panel of ten FiPSC lines carried nine mutations, including four that were homoplasmic. Gray rectangles define the mutations shared between PF and FiPSCs. (B) Venn diagram showing only one mutation in FiPSCs shared with PF. (C) All ten FiPSC lines carried between one and five high-heteroplasmy (>15%) mutations. (D) Mutation distribution in whole blood and BiPSCs was similar to that in PF and FiPSCs. Six mutations at low-heteroplasmy levels were observed in blood, while BiPSC lines displayed 21 mutations, including four over the 80% heteroplasmy level. (E) Venn diagram showing four mutations in BiPSCs shared with whole blood and the 17 novel variants. (F) Distribution of mutations in individual BiPSC lines. See also Figures S2 and S3; Table S1; Table S3, sheet 2; and Table S4, sheet 1 ….
Figure 4. Transmission and Distribution of Somatic mtDNA Mutations to iPSCs (A) A total of 112 mtDNA mutations were discovered in parental cells (PF, CF, and blood) from 11 subjects. Of these, 39 variants (35%) were found in corresponding 130 iPSC lines. Among non-transmitted, transmitted, and novel mutations in iPSCs, comparable percentages of variants (68%, 69%, and 79%, respectively) were coding mutations in protein, rRNA, or tRNA genes. This suggests that most pathogenic mutations do not affect iPSC induction. However, certain coding mutations including in ND3, ND4L, and 14 tRNA genes were not detected in iPSCs, suggesting possible pathogenicity. n, the number of mtDNA mutations. Blue font genes were detected in parental cells. (B–D) A total of 80 high heteroplasmic (>15%) variants were detected in the present study in 130 FiPSC or BiPSC lines from 11 subjects. (B) The majority of these variants (76%) were non-synonymous or frame-shift mutations in protein-coding genes or affected rRNA and tRNA genes. (C) More than half of the mutations (56%) were never reported in a database containing whole mtDNA sequences from 26,850 healthy subjects representing the general human population (http://www.mitomap.org/MITOMAP). (D) Most mutations (90%) were never reported in a database containing sequences from healthy subjects with corresponding mtDNA haplotypes. freq., frequent. See also Figure S5 and Tables S3 and S4. ….
sjwilliamspa
Mutations will accumulate over age in mitochondrial DNA, however the current study has the difficulty that the authors could not use patient-age-matched controls, in essence they could only compare induced pluripotent stem cells derived from different patients. This could confound the results but the result with higher frequency of mutation in mtDNA in cells reprogrammed from younger patients is interesting but might limit the ability of autologous regenerative therapy in older patients. However reprogramming, although the method not mentioned here although I am assuming by transfection with lentivirus is a rough procedure, involving multiple dedifferentiation steps. Therefore it is very understandable that cells obtained from elderly patients would respond less favorably to such a rough reprogramming regimen, especially if it produced a higher degree of ROS, which has been shown to alter mtDNA. This is why I feel it is more advantageous to obtain a stem cell population from fat cells and forgo the Oct4, htert, reprogramming with lentiviral vectors.
Chemotherapy Benefit in Early Breast Cancer Patients
Larry H Bernstein, MD, FCAP, Curator
LPBI
Agendia’s MammaPrint® First and Only Genomic Assay to Receive Level 1A Clinical Utility Evidence for Chemotherapy Benefit in Early Breast Cancer Patients
Clinical high-risk patients with a low-risk MammaPrint® result, including 48 percent node-positive, had five-year distant metastasis-free survival rate in excess of 94 percent, whether randomized to receive adjuvant chemotherapy or not
MammaPrint could change clinical practice by substantially de-escalating the use of adjuvant chemotherapy and sparing many patients an aggressive treatment they will not benefit from
Forty-six percent overall reduction in chemotherapy prescription among clinically high-risk patients
April 19, 2016 / B3C newswire / —Agendia, Inc., together with the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and Breast International Group (BIG), announced results from the initial analysis of the primary objective of the Microarray In Node-negative (and 1 to 3 positive lymph node) Disease may Avoid ChemoTherapy (MINDACT) study at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2016 in New Orleans, LA.
Using the company’s MammaPrint® assay, patients with early-stage breast cancer who were considered at high risk for disease recurrence based on clinical and biological criteria had a distant metastasis-free survival at five years in excess of 94 percent.The MammaPrint test—the first and only genomic assay with FDA 510(k) clearance for use in risk assessment for women of all ages with early stage breast cancer—identified a large group of patients for whom five-year distant metastasis–free survival was equally good whether or not they received adjuvant chemotherapy (chemotherapy given post-surgery).
“The MINDACT trial design is the optimal way to prove clinical utility of a genomic assay,” said Prof. Laura van ’t Veer, CRO at Agendia, Leader, Breast Oncology Program, and Director, Applied Genomics at UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. “It gives the level 1A clinical evidence (prospective, randomized and controlled) that empowers physicians to clearly and confidently know when chemotherapy is part of optimal early-stage breast cancer therapy. In this trial, MammaPrint (70-gene assay) was compared to the standard of care physicians use today, to decide what is the best treatment option for an early-stage breast cancer patient.”
The MINDACT trial is the first prospective randomized controlled clinical trial of a breast cancer recurrence genomic assay with level 1A clinical evidence and the first prospective translational research study of this magnitude in breast cancer to report the results of its primary objective.
Among the 3,356 patients enrolled in the MINDACT trial, who were categorized as having a high risk of breast cancer recurrence based on common clinical and pathological criteria (C-high), the MammaPrint assay reduced the chemotherapy treatment prescription by 46 percent.Using the 70-gene assay, MammaPrint, 48 percent of lymph-node positive breast cancer patients considered clinically high-risk (Clinical-high) and genomic low-risk (MammaPrint-low) had an excellent distant metastasis-free survival at five years in excess of 94 percent.
“Traditionally, physicians have relied on clinical-pathological factors such as age, tumor size, tumor grade, lymph node involvement, and hormone receptor status to make breast cancer treatment decisions,” said Massimo Cristofanilli, MD, Associate Director of Translational Research and Precision Medicine at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University in Chicago. “These findings provide level 1A clinical utility evidence by demonstrating that the detection of low-risk of distant recurrence reported by the MammaPrint test can be safely used in the management of thousands of women by identifying those who can be spared from a toxic and unnecessary treatment.”
MINDACT is a randomized phase III trial that investigates the clinical utility of MammaPrint, when compared (or – “used in conjunction with”) to the standard clinical pathological criteria, for the selection of patients unlikely to benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. From 2007 to 2011, 6,693 women who had undergone surgery for early-stage breast cancer enrolled in the trial (111 centers in nine countries). Participants were categorized as low or high risk for tumor recurrence in two ways: first, through analysis of tumor tissue using MammaPrint at a central location in Amsterdam; and second, using Adjuvant! Online, a tool that calculates risk of breast cancer recurrence based on common clinical and biological criteria.
Patients characterized in both clinical and genomic assessments as “low- risk” are spared chemotherapy, while patients characterized as “high- risk” are advised chemotherapy. Those with conflicting results are randomized to use either clinical or genomic risk (MammaPrint) evaluation to decide on chemotherapy treatment.
The MINDACT trial is managed and sponsored by the EORTC as part of an extensive and complex partnership in collaboration with Agendia and BIG, and many other academic and commercial partners, as well as patient advocates.
“These MINDACT trial results are a testament that the science of the MammaPrint test is the most robust in the genomic breast recurrence assay market. Agendia will continue to collaborate with pharmaceutical companies, leading cancer centers and academic groups on additional clinical research and in the pursuit of bringing more effective, individualized treatments within reach of cancer patients,” said Mark Straley, Chief Executive Officer at Agendia. “We value the partnership with the EORTC and BIG and it’s a great honor to share this critical milestone.”
Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women worldwide(1). In 2012, there were nearly 1.7 million new breast cancer cases among women worldwide, accounting for 25 percent of all new cancer cases in women(2).
Imaging of Cancer Cells, Volume 2 (Volume Two: Latest in Genomics Methodologies for Therapeutics: Gene Editing, NGS and BioInformatics, Simulations and the Genome Ontology), Part 1: Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)
Imaging of Cancer Cells
Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP, Curator
LPBI
Microscope uses nanosecond-speed laser and deep learning to detect cancer cells more efficiently
April 13, 2016
Scientists at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA have developed a new technique for identifying cancer cells in blood samples faster and more accurately than the current standard methods.
In one common approach to testing for cancer, doctors add biochemicals to blood samples. Those biochemicals attach biological “labels” to the cancer cells, and those labels enable instruments to detect and identify them. However, the biochemicals can damage the cells and render the samples unusable for future analyses. There are other current techniques that don’t use labeling but can be inaccurate because they identify cancer cells based only on one physical characteristic.
Time-stretch quantitative phase imaging (TS-QPI) and analytics system
The new technique images cells without destroying them and can identify 16 physical characteristics — including size, granularity and biomass — instead of just one.
The new technique combines two components that were invented at UCLA:
A “photonic time stretch” microscope, which is capable of quickly imaging cells in blood samples. Invented by Barham Jalali, professor and Northrop-Grumman Optoelectronics Chair in electrical engineering, it works by taking pictures of flowing blood cells using laser bursts (similar to how a camera uses a flash). Each flash only lasts nanoseconds (billionths of a second) to avoid damage to cells, but that normally means the images are both too weak to be detected and too fast to be digitized by normal instrumentation. The new microscope overcomes those challenges by using specially designed optics that amplify and boost the clarity of the images, and simultaneously slow them down enough to be detected and digitized at a rate of 36 million images per second.
A deep learning computer program, which identifies cancer cells with more than 95 percent accuracy. Deep learning is a form of artificial intelligence that uses complex algorithms to extract patterns and knowledge from rich multidimenstional datasets, with the goal of achieving accurate decision making.
The study was published in the open-access journal Nature Scientific Reports. The researchers write in the paper that the system could lead to data-driven diagnoses by cells’ physical characteristics, which could allow quicker and earlier diagnoses of cancer, for example, and better understanding of the tumor-specific gene expression in cells, which could facilitate new treatments for disease.
The research was supported by NantWorks, LLC.
Abstract of Deep Learning in Label-free Cell Classification
Label-free cell analysis is essential to personalized genomics, cancer diagnostics, and drug development as it avoids adverse effects of staining reagents on cellular viability and cell signaling. However, currently available label-free cell assays mostly rely only on a single feature and lack sufficient differentiation. Also, the sample size analyzed by these assays is limited due to their low throughput. Here, we integrate feature extraction and deep learning with high-throughput quantitative imaging enabled by photonic time stretch, achieving record high accuracy in label-free cell classification. Our system captures quantitative optical phase and intensity images and extracts multiple biophysical features of individual cells. These biophysical measurements form a hyperdimensional feature space in which supervised learning is performed for cell classification. We compare various learning algorithms including artificial neural network, support vector machine, logistic regression, and a novel deep learning pipeline, which adopts global optimization of receiver operating characteristics. As a validation of the enhanced sensitivity and specificity of our system, we show classification of white blood T-cells against colon cancer cells, as well as lipid accumulating algal strains for biofuel production. This system opens up a new path to data-driven phenotypic diagnosis and better understanding of the heterogeneous gene expressions in cells.
references:
Claire Lifan Chen, Ata Mahjoubfar, Li-Chia Tai, Ian K. Blaby, Allen Huang, Kayvan Reza Niazi & Bahram Jalali. Deep Learning in Label-free Cell Classification. Scientific Reports 6, Article number: 21471 (2016); doi:10.1038/srep21471 (open access)
Supplementary Information
Deep Learning in Label-free Cell Classification
Claire Lifan Chen, Ata Mahjoubfar, Li-Chia Tai, Ian K. Blaby, Allen Huang,Kayvan Reza Niazi & Bahram Jalali
Deep learning extracts patterns and knowledge from rich multidimenstional datasets. While it is extensively used for image recognition and speech processing, its application to label-free classification of cells has not been exploited. Flow cytometry is a powerful tool for large-scale cell analysis due to its ability to measure anisotropic elastic light scattering of millions of individual cells as well as emission of fluorescent labels conjugated to cells1,2. However, each cell is represented with single values per detection channels (forward scatter, side scatter, and emission bands) and often requires labeling with specific biomarkers for acceptable classification accuracy1,3. Imaging flow cytometry4,5 on the other hand captures images of cells, revealing significantly more information about the cells. For example, it can distinguish clusters and debris that would otherwise result in false positive identification in a conventional flow cytometer based on light scattering6.
In addition to classification accuracy, the throughput is another critical specification of a flow cytometer. Indeed high throughput, typically 100,000 cells per second, is needed to screen a large enough cell population to find rare abnormal cells that are indicative of early stage diseases. However there is a fundamental trade-off between throughput and accuracy in any measurement system7,8. For example, imaging flow cytometers face a throughput limit imposed by the speed of the CCD or the CMOS cameras, a number that is approximately 2000 cells/s for present systems9. Higher flow rates lead to blurred cell images due to the finite camera shutter speed. Many applications of flow analyzers such as cancer diagnostics, drug discovery, biofuel development, and emulsion characterization require classification of large sample sizes with a high-degree of statistical accuracy10. This has fueled research into alternative optical diagnostic techniques for characterization of cells and particles in flow.
Recently, our group has developed a label-free imaging flow-cytometry technique based on coherent optical implementation of the photonic time stretch concept11. This instrument overcomes the trade-off between sensitivity and speed by using Amplified Time-stretch Dispersive Fourier Transform12,13,14,15. In time stretched imaging16, the object’s spatial information is encoded in the spectrum of laser pulses within a pulse duration of sub-nanoseconds (Fig. 1). Each pulse representing one frame of the camera is then stretched in time so that it can be digitized in real-time by an electronic analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The ultra-fast pulse illumination freezes the motion of high-speed cells or particles in flow to achieve blur-free imaging. Detection sensitivity is challenged by the low number of photons collected during the ultra-short shutter time (optical pulse width) and the drop in the peak optical power resulting from the time stretch. These issues are solved in time stretch imaging by implementing a low noise-figure Raman amplifier within the dispersive device that performs time stretching8,11,16. Moreover, warped stretch transform17,18can be used in time stretch imaging to achieve optical image compression and nonuniform spatial resolution over the field-of-view19. In the coherent version of the instrument, the time stretch imaging is combined with spectral interferometry to measure quantitative phase and intensity images in real-time and at high throughput20. Integrated with a microfluidic channel, coherent time stretch imaging system in this work measures both quantitative optical phase shift and loss of individual cells as a high-speed imaging flow cytometer, capturing 36 million images per second in flow rates as high as 10 meters per second, reaching up to 100,000 cells per second throughput.
Box 1: The pulse train is spatially dispersed into a train of rainbow flashes illuminating the target as line scans. The spatial features of the target are encoded into the spectrum of the broadband optical pulses, each representing a one-dimensional frame. The ultra-short optical pulse illumination freezes the motion of cells during high speed flow to achieve blur-free imaging with a throughput of 100,000 cells/s. The phase shift and intensity loss at each location within the field of view are embedded into the spectral interference patterns using a Michelson interferometer. Box 2: The interferogram pulses were then stretched in time so that spatial information could be mapped into time through time-stretch dispersive Fourier transform (TS-DFT), and then captured by a single pixel photodetector and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The loss of sensitivity at high shutter speed is compensated by stimulated Raman amplification during time stretch. Box 3: (a) Pulse synchronization; the time-domain signal carrying serially captured rainbow pulses is transformed into a series of one-dimensional spatial maps, which are used for forming line images. (b) The biomass density of a cell leads to a spatially varying optical phase shift. When a rainbow flash passes through the cells, the changes in refractive index at different locations will cause phase walk-off at interrogation wavelengths. Hilbert transformation and phase unwrapping are used to extract the spatial phase shift. (c) Decoding the phase shift in each pulse at each wavelength and remapping it into a pixel reveals the protein concentration distribution within cells. The optical loss induced by the cells, embedded in the pulse intensity variations, is obtained from the amplitude of the slowly varying envelope of the spectral interferograms. Thus, quantitative optical phase shift and intensity loss images are captured simultaneously. Both images are calibrated based on the regions where the cells are absent. Cell features describing morphology, granularity, biomass, etc are extracted from the images. (d) These biophysical features are used in a machine learning algorithm for high-accuracy label-free classification of the cells.
On another note, surface markers used to label cells, such as EpCAM21, are unavailable in some applications; for example, melanoma or pancreatic circulating tumor cells (CTCs) as well as some cancer stem cells are EpCAM-negative and will escape EpCAM-based detection platforms22. Furthermore, large-population cell sorting opens the doors to downstream operations, where the negative impacts of labels on cellular behavior and viability are often unacceptable23. Cell labels may cause activating/inhibitory signal transduction, altering the behavior of the desired cellular subtypes, potentially leading to errors in downstream analysis, such as DNA sequencing and subpopulation regrowth. In this way, quantitative phase imaging (QPI) methods24,25,26,27 that categorize unlabeled living cells with high accuracy are needed. Coherent time stretch imaging is a method that enables quantitative phase imaging at ultrahigh throughput for non-invasive label-free screening of large number of cells.
In this work, the information of quantitative optical loss and phase images are fused into expert designed features, leading to a record label-free classification accuracy when combined with deep learning. Image mining techniques are applied, for the first time, to time stretch quantitative phase imaging to measure biophysical attributes including protein concentration, optical loss, and morphological features of single cells at an ultrahigh flow rate and in a label-free fashion. These attributes differ widely28,29,30,31 among cells and their variations reflect important information of genotypes and physiological stimuli32. The multiplexed biophysical features thus lead to information-rich hyper-dimensional representation of the cells for label-free classification with high statistical precision.
We further improved the accuracy, repeatability, and the balance between sensitivity and specificity of our label-free cell classification by a novel machine learning pipeline, which harnesses the advantages of multivariate supervised learning, as well as unique training by evolutionary global optimization of receiver operating characteristics (ROC). To demonstrate sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of multi-feature label-free flow cytometry using our technique, we classified (1) OT-IIhybridoma T-lymphocytes and SW-480 colon cancer epithelial cells, and (2) Chlamydomonas reinhardtii algal cells (herein referred to as Chlamydomonas) based on their lipid content, which is related to the yield in biofuel production. Our preliminary results show that compared to classification by individual biophysical parameters, our label-free hyperdimensional technique improves the detection accuracy from 77.8% to 95.5%, or in other words, reduces the classification inaccuracy by about five times. ……..
Feature Extraction
The decomposed components of sequential line scans form pairs of spatial maps, namely, optical phase and loss images as shown in Fig. 2 (see Section Methods: Image Reconstruction). These images are used to obtain biophysical fingerprints of the cells8,36. With domain expertise, raw images are fused and transformed into a suitable set of biophysical features, listed in Table 1, which the deep learning model further converts into learned features for improved classification.
The new technique combines two components that were invented at UCLA:
A “photonic time stretch” microscope, which is capable of quickly imaging cells in blood samples. Invented by Barham Jalali, professor and Northrop-Grumman Optoelectronics Chair in electrical engineering, it works by taking pictures of flowing blood cells using laser bursts (similar to how a camera uses a flash). Each flash only lasts nanoseconds (billionths of a second) to avoid damage to cells, but that normally means the images are both too weak to be detected and too fast to be digitized by normal instrumentation. The new microscope overcomes those challenges by using specially designed optics that amplify and boost the clarity of the images, and simultaneously slow them down enough to be detected and digitized at a rate of 36 million images per second.
A deep learning computer program, which identifies cancer cells with more than 95 percent accuracy. Deep learning is a form of artificial intelligence that uses complex algorithms to extract patterns and knowledge from rich multidimenstional datasets, with the goal of achieving accurate decision making.
The study was published in the open-access journal Nature Scientific Reports. The researchers write in the paper that the system could lead to data-driven diagnoses by cells’ physical characteristics, which could allow quicker and earlier diagnoses of cancer, for example, and better understanding of the tumor-specific gene expression in cells, which could facilitate new treatments for disease.
The optical loss images of the cells are affected by the attenuation of multiplexed wavelength components passing through the cells. The attenuation itself is governed by the absorption of the light in cells as well as the scattering from the surface of the cells and from the internal cell organelles. The optical loss image is derived from the low frequency component of the pulse interferograms. The optical phase image is extracted from the analytic form of the high frequency component of the pulse interferograms using Hilbert Transformation, followed by a phase unwrapping algorithm. Details of these derivations can be found in Section Methods. Also, supplementary Videos 1 and 2 show measurements of cell-induced optical path length difference by TS-QPI at four different points along the rainbow for OT-II and SW-480, respectively.
Table 1: List of extracted features.
Feature Name Description Category
Figure 3: Biophysical features formed by image fusion.
(a) Pairwise correlation matrix visualized as a heat map. The map depicts the correlation between all major 16 features extracted from the quantitative images. Diagonal elements of the matrix represent correlation of each parameter with itself, i.e. the autocorrelation. The subsets in box 1, box 2, and box 3 show high correlation because they are mainly related to morphological, optical phase, and optical loss feature categories, respectively. (b) Ranking of biophysical features based on their AUCs in single-feature classification. Blue bars show performance of the morphological parameters, which includes diameter along the interrogation rainbow, diameter along the flow direction, tight cell area, loose cell area, perimeter, circularity, major axis length, orientation, and median radius. As expected, morphology contains most information, but other biophysical features can contribute to improved performance of label-free cell classification. Orange bars show optical phase shift features i.e. optical path length differences and refractive index difference. Green bars show optical loss features representing scattering and absorption by the cell. The best performed feature in these three categories are marked in red.
Figure 4: Machine learning pipeline. Information of quantitative optical phase and loss images are fused to extract multivariate biophysical features of each cell, which are fed into a fully-connected neural network.
The neural network maps input features by a chain of weighted sum and nonlinear activation functions into learned feature space, convenient for classification. This deep neural network is globally trained via area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristics (ROC). Each ROC curve corresponds to a set of weights for connections to an output node, generated by scanning the weight of the bias node. The training process maximizes AUC, pushing the ROC curve toward the upper left corner, which means improved sensitivity and specificity in classification.
…. How to cite this article: Chen, C. L. et al. Deep Learning in Label-free Cell Classification.
To better characterize the functional context of genomic variations in cancer, researchers developed a new computer algorithm called REVEALER. [UC San Diego Health]
Scientists at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and the Broad Institute say they have developed a new computer algorithm—REVEALER—to better characterize the functional context of genomic variations in cancer. The tool, described in a paper (“Characterizing Genomic Alterations in Cancer by Complementary Functional Associations”) published in Nature Biotechnology, is designed to help researchers identify groups of genetic variations that together associate with a particular way cancer cells get activated, or how they respond to certain treatments.
REVEALER is available for free to the global scientific community via the bioinformatics software portal GenePattern.org.
“This computational analysis method effectively uncovers the functional context of genomic alterations, such as gene mutations, amplifications, or deletions, that drive tumor formation,” said senior author Pablo Tamayo, Ph.D., professor and co-director of the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center Genomics and Computational Biology Shared Resource.
Dr. Tamayo and team tested REVEALER using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), the NIH’s database of genomic information from more than 500 human tumors representing many cancer types. REVEALER revealed gene alterations associated with the activation of several cellular processes known to play a role in tumor development and response to certain drugs. Some of these gene mutations were already known, but others were new.
For example, the researchers discovered new activating genomic abnormalities for beta-catenin, a cancer-promoting protein, and for the oxidative stress response that some cancers hijack to increase their viability.
REVEALER requires as input high-quality genomic data and a significant number of cancer samples, which can be a challenge, according to Dr. Tamayo. But REVEALER is more sensitive at detecting similarities between different types of genomic features and less dependent on simplifying statistical assumptions, compared to other methods, he adds.
“This study demonstrates the potential of combining functional profiling of cells with the characterizations of cancer genomes via next-generation sequencing,” said co-senior author Jill P. Mesirov, Ph.D., professor and associate vice chancellor for computational health sciences at UC San Diego School of Medicine.
Characterizing genomic alterations in cancer by complementary functional associations
Jong Wook Kim, Olga B Botvinnik, Omar Abudayyeh, Chet Birger, et al.
Systematic efforts to sequence the cancer genome have identified large numbers of mutations and copy number alterations in human cancers. However, elucidating the functional consequences of these variants, and their interactions to drive or maintain oncogenic states, remains a challenge in cancer research. We developed REVEALER, a computational method that identifies combinations of mutually exclusive genomic alterations correlated with functional phenotypes, such as the activation or gene dependency of oncogenic pathways or sensitivity to a drug treatment. We used REVEALER to uncover complementary genomic alterations associated with the transcriptional activation of β-catenin and NRF2, MEK-inhibitor sensitivity, and KRAS dependency. REVEALER successfully identified both known and new associations, demonstrating the power of combining functional profiles with extensive characterization of genomic alterations in cancer genomes
Figure 2: REVEALER results for transcriptional activation of β-catenin in cancer.close
(a) This heatmap illustrates the use of the REVEALER approach to find complementary genomic alterations that match the transcriptional activation of β-catenin in cancer. The target profile is a TCF4 reporter that provides an estimate of…
An imaging-based platform for high-content, quantitative evaluation of therapeutic response in 3D tumour models
Jonathan P. Celli, Imran Rizvi, Adam R. Blanden, Iqbal Massodi, Michael D. Glidden, Brian W. Pogue & Tayyaba Hasan
While it is increasingly recognized that three-dimensional (3D) cell culture models recapitulate drug responses of human cancers with more fidelity than monolayer cultures, a lack of quantitative analysis methods limit their implementation for reliable and routine assessment of emerging therapies. Here, we introduce an approach based on computational analysis of fluorescence image data to provide high-content readouts of dose-dependent cytotoxicity, growth inhibition, treatment-induced architectural changes and size-dependent response in 3D tumour models. We demonstrate this approach in adherent 3D ovarian and pancreatic multiwell extracellular matrix tumour overlays subjected to a panel of clinically relevant cytotoxic modalities and appropriately designed controls for reliable quantification of fluorescence signal. This streamlined methodology reads out the high density of information embedded in 3D culture systems, while maintaining a level of speed and efficiency traditionally achieved with global colorimetric reporters in order to facilitate broader implementation of 3D tumour models in therapeutic screening.
The attrition rates for preclinical development of oncology therapeutics are particularly dismal due to a complex set of factors which includes 1) the failure of pre-clinical models to recapitulate determinants of in vivo treatment response, and 2) the limited ability of available assays to extract treatment-specific data integral to the complexities of therapeutic responses1,2,3. Three-dimensional (3D) tumour models have been shown to restore crucial stromal interactions which are missing in the more commonly used 2D cell culture and that influence tumour organization and architecture4,5,6,7,8, as well as therapeutic response9,10, multicellular resistance (MCR)11,12, drug penetration13,14, hypoxia15,16, and anti-apoptotic signaling17. However, such sophisticated models can only have an impact on therapeutic guidance if they are accompanied by robust quantitative assays, not only for cell viability but also for providing mechanistic insights related to the outcomes. While numerous assays for drug discovery exist18, they are generally not developed for use in 3D systems and are often inherently unsuitable. For example, colorimetric conversion products have been noted to bind to extracellular matrix (ECM)19 and traditional colorimetric cytotoxicity assays reduce treatment response to a single number reflecting a biochemical event that has been equated to cell viability (e.g. tetrazolium salt conversion20). Such approaches fail to provide insight into the spatial patterns of response within colonies, morphological or structural effects of drug response, or how overall culture viability may be obscuring the status of sub-populations that are resistant or partially responsive. Hence, the full benefit of implementing 3D tumour models in therapeutic development has yet to be realized for lack of analytical methods that describe the very aspects of treatment outcome that these systems restore.
Motivated by these factors, we introduce a new platform for quantitative in situ treatment assessment (qVISTA) in 3D tumour models based on computational analysis of information-dense biological image datasets (bioimage-informatics)21,22. This methodology provides software end-users with multiple levels of complexity in output content, from rapidly-interpreted dose response relationships to higher content quantitative insights into treatment-dependent architectural changes, spatial patterns of cytotoxicity within fields of multicellular structures, and statistical analysis of nodule-by-nodule size-dependent viability. The approach introduced here is cognizant of tradeoffs between optical resolution, data sampling (statistics), depth of field, and widespread usability (instrumentation requirement). Specifically, it is optimized for interpretation of fluorescent signals for disease-specific 3D tumour micronodules that are sufficiently small that thousands can be imaged simultaneously with little or no optical bias from widefield integration of signal along the optical axis of each object. At the core of our methodology is the premise that the copious numerical readouts gleaned from segmentation and interpretation of fluorescence signals in these image datasets can be converted into usable information to classify treatment effects comprehensively, without sacrificing the throughput of traditional screening approaches. It is hoped that this comprehensive treatment-assessment methodology will have significant impact in facilitating more sophisticated implementation of 3D cell culture models in preclinical screening by providing a level of content and biological relevance impossible with existing assays in monolayer cell culture in order to focus therapeutic targets and strategies before costly and tedious testing in animal models.
Using two different cell lines and as depicted in Figure 1, we adopt an ECM overlay method pioneered originally for 3D breast cancer models23, and developed in previous studies by us to model micrometastatic ovarian cancer19,24. This system leads to the formation of adherent multicellular 3D acini in approximately the same focal plane atop a laminin-rich ECM bed, implemented here in glass-bottom multiwell imaging plates for automated microscopy. The 3D nodules resultant from restoration of ECM signaling5,8, are heterogeneous in size24, in contrast to other 3D spheroid methods, such as rotary or hanging drop cultures10, in which cells are driven to aggregate into uniformly sized spheroids due to lack of an appropriate substrate to adhere to. Although the latter processes are also biologically relevant, it is the adherent tumour populations characteristic of advanced metastatic disease that are more likely to be managed with medical oncology, which are the focus of therapeutic evaluation herein. The heterogeneity in 3D structures formed via ECM overlay is validated here by endoscopic imaging ofin vivo tumours in orthotopic xenografts derived from the same cells (OVCAR-5).
Figure 1: A simplified schematic flow chart of imaging-based quantitative in situ treatment assessment (qVISTA) in 3D cell culture.
(This figure was prepared in Adobe Illustrator® software by MD Glidden, JP Celli and I Rizvi). A detailed breakdown of the image processing (Step 4) is provided in Supplemental Figure 1.
A critical component of the imaging-based strategy introduced here is the rational tradeoff of image-acquisition parameters for field of view, depth of field and optical resolution, and the development of image processing routines for appropriate removal of background, scaling of fluorescence signals from more than one channel and reliable segmentation of nodules. In order to obtain depth-resolved 3D structures for each nodule at sub-micron lateral resolution using a laser-scanning confocal system, it would require ~ 40 hours (at approximately 100 fields for each well with a 20× objective, times 1 minute/field for a coarse z-stack, times 24 wells) to image a single plate with the same coverage achieved in this study. Even if the resources were available to devote to such time-intensive image acquisition, not to mention the processing, the optical properties of the fluorophores would change during the required time frame for image acquisition, even with environmental controls to maintain culture viability during such extended imaging. The approach developed here, with a mind toward adaptation into high throughput screening, provides a rational balance of speed, requiring less than 30 minutes/plate, and statistical rigour, providing images of thousands of nodules in this time, as required for the high-content analysis developed in this study. These parameters can be further optimized for specific scenarios. For example, we obtain the same number of images in a 96 well plate as for a 24 well plate by acquiring only a single field from each well, rather than 4 stitched fields. This quadruples the number conditions assayed in a single run, at the expense of the number of nodules per condition, and therefore the ability to obtain statistical data sets for size-dependent response, Dfrac and other segmentation-dependent numerical readouts.
We envision that the system for high-content interrogation of therapeutic response in 3D cell culture could have widespread impact in multiple arenas from basic research to large scale drug development campaigns. As such, the treatment assessment methodology presented here does not require extraordinary optical instrumentation or computational resources, making it widely accessible to any research laboratory with an inverted fluorescence microscope and modestly equipped personal computer. And although we have focused here on cancer models, the methodology is broadly applicable to quantitative evaluation of other tissue models in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. While this analysis toolbox could have impact in facilitating the implementation of in vitro 3D models in preclinical treatment evaluation in smaller academic laboratories, it could also be adopted as part of the screening pipeline in large pharma settings. With the implementation of appropriate temperature controls to handle basement membranes in current robotic liquid handling systems, our analyses could be used in ultra high-throughput screening. In addition to removing non-efficacious potential candidate drugs earlier in the pipeline, this approach could also yield the additional economic advantage of minimizing the use of costly time-intensive animal models through better estimates of dose range, sequence and schedule for combination regimens.
Microscope Uses AI to Find Cancer Cells More Efficiently
Scientists at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA have developed a new technique for identifying cancer cells in blood samples faster and more accurately than the current standard methods.
In one common approach to testing for cancer, doctors add biochemicals to blood samples. Those biochemicals attach biological “labels” to the cancer cells, and those labels enable instruments to detect and identify them. However, the biochemicals can damage the cells and render the samples unusable for future analyses.
There are other current techniques that don’t use labeling but can be inaccurate because they identify cancer cells based only on one physical characteristic.
The new technique images cells without destroying them and can identify 16 physical characteristics — including size, granularity and biomass — instead of just one. It combines two components that were invented at UCLA: a photonic time stretch microscope, which is capable of quickly imaging cells in blood samples, and a deep learning computer program that identifies cancer cells with over 95 percent accuracy.
Deep learning is a form of artificial intelligence that uses complex algorithms to extract meaning from data with the goal of achieving accurate decision making.
The study, which was published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports, was led by Barham Jalali, professor and Northrop-Grumman Optoelectronics Chair in electrical engineering; Claire Lifan Chen, a UCLA doctoral student; and Ata Mahjoubfar, a UCLA postdoctoral fellow.
Photonic time stretch was invented by Jalali, and he holds a patent for the technology. The new microscope is just one of many possible applications; it works by taking pictures of flowing blood cells using laser bursts in the way that a camera uses a flash. This process happens so quickly — in nanoseconds, or billionths of a second — that the images would be too weak to be detected and too fast to be digitized by normal instrumentation.
The new microscope overcomes those challenges using specially designed optics that boost the clarity of the images and simultaneously slow them enough to be detected and digitized at a rate of 36 million images per second. It then uses deep learning to distinguish cancer cells from healthy white blood cells.
“Each frame is slowed down in time and optically amplified so it can be digitized,” Mahjoubfar said. “This lets us perform fast cell imaging that the artificial intelligence component can distinguish.”
Normally, taking pictures in such minuscule periods of time would require intense illumination, which could destroy live cells. The UCLA approach also eliminates that problem.
“The photonic time stretch technique allows us to identify rogue cells in a short time with low-level illumination,” Chen said.
The researchers write in the paper that the system could lead to data-driven diagnoses by cells’ physical characteristics, which could allow quicker and earlier diagnoses of cancer, for example, and better understanding of the tumor-specific gene expression in cells, which could facilitate new treatments for disease. ….. see also http://www.nature.com/article-assets/npg/srep/2016/160315/srep21471/images_hires/m685/srep21471-f1.jpg
CRISPR/Cas9, Familial Amyloid Polyneuropathy (FAP) and Neurodegenerative Disease, Volume 2 (Volume Two: Latest in Genomics Methodologies for Therapeutics: Gene Editing, NGS and BioInformatics, Simulations and the Genome Ontology), Part 2: CRISPR for Gene Editing and DNA Repair
CRISPR/Cas9, Familial Amyloid Polyneuropathy ( FAP) and Neurodegenerative Disease
Curator: Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP
CRISPR/Cas9 and Targeted Genome Editing: A New Era in Molecular Biology
The development of efficient and reliable ways to make precise, targeted changes to the genome of living cells is a long-standing goal for biomedical researchers. Recently, a new tool based on a bacterial CRISPR-associated protein-9 nuclease (Cas9) from Streptococcus pyogenes has generated considerable excitement (1). This follows several attempts over the years to manipulate gene function, including homologous recombination (2) and RNA interference (RNAi) (3). RNAi, in particular, became a laboratory staple enabling inexpensive and high-throughput interrogation of gene function (4, 5), but it is hampered by providing only temporary inhibition of gene function and unpredictable off-target effects (6). Other recent approaches to targeted genome modification – zinc-finger nucleases [ZFNs, (7)] and transcription-activator like effector nucleases [TALENs (8)]– enable researchers to generate permanent mutations by introducing doublestranded breaks to activate repair pathways. These approaches are costly and time-consuming to engineer, limiting their widespread use, particularly for large scale, high-throughput studies.
The Biology of Cas9
The functions of CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) and CRISPR-associated (Cas) genes are essential in adaptive immunity in select bacteria and archaea, enabling the organisms to respond to and eliminate invading genetic material. These repeats were initially discovered in the 1980s in E. coli (9), but their function wasn’t confirmed until 2007 by Barrangou and colleagues, who demonstrated that S. thermophilus can acquire resistance against a bacteriophage by integrating a genome fragment of an infectious virus into its CRISPR locus (10).
Three types of CRISPR mechanisms have been identified, of which type II is the most studied. In this case, invading DNA from viruses or plasmids is cut into small fragments and incorporated into a CRISPR locus amidst a series of short repeats (around 20 bps). The loci are transcribed, and transcripts are then processed to generate small RNAs (crRNA – CRISPR RNA), which are used to guide effector endonucleases that target invading DNA based on sequence complementarity (Figure 1) (11).
Figure 1. Cas9 in vivo: Bacterial Adaptive Immunity
In the acquisition phase, foreign DNA is incorporated into the bacterial genome at the CRISPR loci. CRISPR loci is then transcribed and processed into crRNA during crRNA biogenesis. During interference, Cas9 endonuclease complexed with a crRNA and separate tracrRNA cleaves foreign DNA containing a 20-nucleotide crRNA complementary sequence adjacent to the PAM sequence. (Figure not drawn to scale.)
One Cas protein, Cas9 (also known as Csn1), has been shown, through knockdown and rescue experiments to be a key player in certain CRISPR mechanisms (specifically type II CRISPR systems). The type II CRISPR mechanism is unique compared to other CRISPR systems, as only one Cas protein (Cas9) is required for gene silencing (12). In type II systems, Cas9 participates in the processing of crRNAs (12), and is responsible for the destruction of the target DNA (11). Cas9’s function in both of these steps relies on the presence of two nuclease domains, a RuvC-like nuclease domain located at the amino terminus and a HNH-like nuclease domain that resides in the mid-region of the protein (13).
To achieve site-specific DNA recognition and cleavage, Cas9 must be complexed with both a crRNA and a separate trans-activating crRNA (tracrRNA or trRNA), that is partially complementary to the crRNA (11). The tracrRNA is required for crRNA maturation from a primary transcript encoding multiple pre-crRNAs. This occurs in the presence of RNase III and Cas9 (12).
During the destruction of target DNA, the HNH and RuvC-like nuclease domains cut both DNA strands, generating double-stranded breaks (DSBs) at sites defined by a 20-nucleotide target sequence within an associated crRNA transcript (11, 14). The HNH domain cleaves the complementary strand, while the RuvC domain cleaves the noncomplementary strand.
The double-stranded endonuclease activity of Cas9 also requires that a short conserved sequence, (2–5 nts) known as protospacer-associated motif (PAM), follows immediately 3´- of the crRNA complementary sequence (15). In fact, even fully complementary sequences are ignored by Cas9-RNA in the absence of a PAM sequence (16).
Cas9 and CRISPR as a New Tool in Molecular Biology
The simplicity of the type II CRISPR nuclease, with only three required components (Cas9 along with the crRNA and trRNA) makes this system amenable to adaptation for genome editing. This potential was realized in 2012 by the Doudna and Charpentier labs (11). Based on the type II CRISPR system described previously, the authors developed a simplified two-component system by combining trRNA and crRNA into a single synthetic single guide RNA (sgRNA). sgRNAprogrammed Cas9 was shown to be as effective as Cas9 programmed with separate trRNA and crRNA in guiding targeted gene alterations (Figure 2A).
To date, three different variants of the Cas9 nuclease have been adopted in genome-editing protocols. The first is wild-type Cas9, which can site-specifically cleave double-stranded DNA, resulting in the activation of the doublestrand break (DSB) repair machinery. DSBs can be repaired by the cellular Non-Homologous End Joining (NHEJ) pathway (17), resulting in insertions and/or deletions (indels) which disrupt the targeted locus. Alternatively, if a donor template with homology to the targeted locus is supplied, the DSB may be repaired by the homology-directed repair (HDR) pathway allowing for precise replacement mutations to be made (Figure 2A) (17, 18).
Cong and colleagues (1) took the Cas9 system a step further towards increased precision by developing a mutant form, known as Cas9D10A, with only nickase activity. This means it cleaves only one DNA strand, and does not activate NHEJ. Instead, when provided with a homologous repair template, DNA repairs are conducted via the high-fidelity HDR pathway only, resulting in reduced indel mutations (1, 11, 19). Cas9D10A is even more appealing in terms of target specificity when loci are targeted by paired Cas9 complexes designed to generate adjacent DNA nicks (20) (see further details about “paired nickases” in Figure 2B).
The third variant is a nuclease-deficient Cas9 (dCas9, Figure 2C) (21). Mutations H840A in the HNH domain and D10A in the RuvC domain inactivate cleavage activity, but do not prevent DNA binding (11, 22). Therefore, this variant can be used to sequence-specifically target any region of the genome without cleavage. Instead, by fusing with various effector domains, dCas9 can be used either as a gene silencing or activation tool (21, 23–26). Furthermore, it can be used as a visualization tool. For instance, Chen and colleagues used dCas9 fused to Enhanced Green Fluorescent Protein (EGFP) to visualize repetitive DNA sequences with a single sgRNA or nonrepetitive loci using multiple sgRNAs (27).
Wild-type Cas9 nuclease site specifically cleaves double-stranded DNA activating double-strand break repair machinery. In the absence of a homologous repair template non-homologous end joining can result in indels disrupting the target sequence. Alternatively, precise mutations and knock-ins can be made by providing a homologous repair template and exploiting the homology directed repair pathway.
B. Mutated Cas9 makes a site specific single-strand nick. Two sgRNA can be used to introduce a staggered double-stranded break which can then undergo homology directed repair.
C. Nuclease-deficient Cas9 can be fused with various effector domains allowing specific localization. For example, transcriptional activators, repressors, and fluorescent proteins.
Targeting Efficiency and Off-target Mutations
Targeting efficiency, or the percentage of desired mutation achieved, is one of the most important parameters by which to assess a genome-editing tool. The targeting efficiency of Cas9 compares favorably with more established methods, such as TALENs or ZFNs (8). For example, in human cells, custom-designed ZFNs and TALENs could only achieve efficiencies ranging from 1% to 50% (29–31). In contrast, the Cas9 system has been reported to have efficiencies up to >70% in zebrafish (32) and plants (33), and ranging from 2–5% in induced pluripotent stem cells (34). In addition, Zhou and colleagues were able to improve genome targeting up to 78% in one-cell mouse embryos, and achieved effective germline transmission through the use of dual sgRNAs to simultaneously target an individual gene (35).
A widely used method to identify mutations is the T7 Endonuclease I mutation detection assay (36, 37) (Figure 3). This assay detects heteroduplex DNA that results from the annealing of a DNA strand, including desired mutations, with a wildtype DNA strand (37).
Figure 3. T7 Endonuclease I Targeting Efficiency Assay
Genomic DNA is amplified with primers bracketing the modified locus. PCR products are then denatured and re-annealed yielding 3 possible structures. Duplexes containing a mismatch are digested by T7 Endonuclease I. The DNA is then electrophoretically separated and fragment analysis is used to calculate targeting efficiency.
Another important parameter is the incidence of off-target mutations. Such mutations are likely to appear in sites that have differences of only a few nucleotides compared to the original sequence, as long as they are adjacent to a PAM sequence. This occurs as Cas9 can tolerate up to 5 base mismatches within the protospacer region (36) or a single base difference in the PAM sequence (38). Off-target mutations are generally more difficult to detect, requiring whole-genome sequencing to rule them out completely.
Recent improvements to the CRISPR system for reducing off-target mutations have been made through the use of truncated gRNA (truncated within the crRNA-derived sequence) or by adding two extra guanine (G) nucleotides to the 5´ end (28, 37). Another way researchers have attempted to minimize off-target effects is with the use of “paired nickases” (20). This strategy uses D10A Cas9 and two sgRNAs complementary to the adjacent area on opposite strands of the target site (Figure 2B). While this induces DSBs in the target DNA, it is expected to create only single nicks in off-target locations and, therefore, result in minimal off-target mutations.
By leveraging computation to reduce off-target mutations, several groups have developed webbased tools to facilitate the identification of potential CRISPR target sites and assess their potential for off-target cleavage. Examples include the CRISPR Design Tool (38) and the ZiFiT Targeter, Version 4.2 (39, 40).
Applications as a Genome-editing and Genome Targeting Tool
Following its initial demonstration in 2012 (9), the CRISPR/Cas9 system has been widely adopted. This has already been successfully used to target important genes in many cell lines and organisms, including human (34), bacteria (41), zebrafish (32), C. elegans (42), plants (34), Xenopus tropicalis (43), yeast (44), Drosophila (45), monkeys (46), rabbits (47), pigs (42), rats (48) and mice (49). Several groups have now taken advantage of this method to introduce single point mutations (deletions or insertions) in a particular target gene, via a single gRNA (14, 21, 29). Using a pair of gRNA-directed Cas9 nucleases instead, it is also possible to induce large deletions or genomic rearrangements, such as inversions or translocations (50). A recent exciting development is the use of the dCas9 version of the CRISPR/Cas9 system to target protein domains for transcriptional regulation (26, 51, 52), epigenetic modification (25), and microscopic visualization of specific genome loci (27).
The CRISPR/Cas9 system requires only the redesign of the crRNA to change target specificity. This contrasts with other genome editing tools, including zinc finger and TALENs, where redesign of the protein-DNA interface is required. Furthermore, CRISPR/Cas9 enables rapid genome-wide interrogation of gene function by generating large gRNA libraries (51, 53) for genomic screening.
The Future of CRISPR/Cas9
The rapid progress in developing Cas9 into a set of tools for cell and molecular biology research has been remarkable, likely due to the simplicity, high efficiency and versatility of the system. Of the designer nuclease systems currently available for precision genome engineering, the CRISPR/Cas system is by far the most user friendly. It is now also clear that Cas9’s potential reaches beyond DNA cleavage, and its usefulness for genome locus-specific recruitment of proteins will likely only be limited by our imagination.
Scientists urge caution in using new CRISPR technology to treat human genetic disease
The bacterial enzyme Cas9 is the engine of RNA-programmed genome engineering in human cells. (Graphic by Jennifer Doudna/UC Berkeley)
A group of 18 scientists and ethicists today warned that a revolutionary new tool to cut and splice DNA should be used cautiously when attempting to fix human genetic disease, and strongly discouraged any attempts at making changes to the human genome that could be passed on to offspring.
Among the authors of this warning is Jennifer Doudna, the co-inventor of the technology, called CRISPR-Cas9, which is driving a new interest in gene therapy, or “genome engineering.” She and colleagues co-authored a perspective piece that appears in the March 20 issue of Science, based on discussions at a meeting that took place in Napa on Jan. 24. The same issue of Science features a collection of recent research papers, commentary and news articles on CRISPR and its implications. …..
A prudent path forward for genomic engineering and germline gene modification
Scientists today are changing DNA sequences to correct genetic defects in animals as well as cultured tissues generated from stem cells, strategies that could eventually be used to treat human disease. The technology can also be used to engineer animals with genetic diseases mimicking human disease, which could lead to new insights into previously enigmatic disorders.
The CRISPR-Cas9 tool is still being refined to ensure that genetic changes are precisely targeted, Doudna said. Nevertheless, the authors met “… to initiate an informed discussion of the uses of genome engineering technology, and to identify proactively those areas where current action is essential to prepare for future developments. We recommend taking immediate steps toward ensuring that the application of genome engineering technology is performed safely and ethically.”
Amyloid CRISPR Plasmids and si/shRNA Gene Silencers
Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc. offers a broad range of gene silencers in the form of siRNAs, shRNA Plasmids and shRNA Lentiviral Particles as well as CRISPR/Cas9 Knockout and CRISPR Double Nickase plasmids. Amyloid gene silencers are available as Amyloid siRNA, Amyloid shRNA Plasmid, Amyloid shRNA Lentiviral Particles and Amyloid CRISPR/Cas9 Knockout plasmids. Amyloid CRISPR/dCas9 Activation Plasmids and CRISPR Lenti Activation Systems for gene activation are also available. Gene silencers and activators are useful for gene studies in combination with antibodies used for protein detection. Amyloid CRISPR Knockout, HDR and Nickase Knockout Plasmids
CRISPR-Cas9-Based Knockout of the Prion Protein and Its Effect on the Proteome
The molecular function of the cellular prion protein (PrPC) and the mechanism by which it may contribute to neurotoxicity in prion diseases and Alzheimer’s disease are only partially understood. Mouse neuroblastoma Neuro2a cells and, more recently, C2C12 myocytes and myotubes have emerged as popular models for investigating the cellular biology of PrP. Mouse epithelial NMuMG cells might become attractive models for studying the possible involvement of PrP in a morphogenetic program underlying epithelial-to-mesenchymal transitions. Here we describe the generation of PrP knockout clones from these cell lines using CRISPR-Cas9 knockout technology. More specifically, knockout clones were generated with two separate guide RNAs targeting recognition sites on opposite strands within the first hundred nucleotides of the Prnp coding sequence. Several PrP knockout clones were isolated and genomic insertions and deletions near the CRISPR-target sites were characterized. Subsequently, deep quantitative global proteome analyses that recorded the relative abundance of>3000 proteins (data deposited to ProteomeXchange Consortium) were undertaken to begin to characterize the molecular consequences of PrP deficiency. The levels of ∼120 proteins were shown to reproducibly correlate with the presence or absence of PrP, with most of these proteins belonging to extracellular components, cell junctions or the cytoskeleton.
Recent advances in genome engineering technologies based on the CRISPR-associated RNA-guided endonuclease Cas9 are enabling the systematic interrogation of mammalian genome function. Analogous to the search function in modern word processors, Cas9 can be guided to specific locations within complex genomes by a short RNA search string. Using this system, DNA sequences within the endogenous genome and their functional outputs are now easily edited or modulated in virtually any organism of choice. Cas9-mediated genetic perturbation is simple and scalable, empowering researchers to elucidate the functional organization of the genome at the systems level and establish causal linkages between genetic variations and biological phenotypes. In this Review, we describe the development and applications of Cas9 for a variety of research or translational applications while highlighting challenges as well as future directions. Derived from a remarkable microbial defense system, Cas9 is driving innovative applications from basic biology to biotechnology and medicine.
The development of recombinant DNA technology in the 1970s marked the beginning of a new era for biology. For the first time, molecular biologists gained the ability to manipulate DNA molecules, making it possible to study genes and harness them to develop novel medicine and biotechnology. Recent advances in genome engineering technologies are sparking a new revolution in biological research. Rather than studying DNA taken out of the context of the genome, researchers can now directly edit or modulate the function of DNA sequences in their endogenous context in virtually any organism of choice, enabling them to elucidate the functional organization of the genome at the systems level, as well as identify causal genetic variations.
Broadly speaking, genome engineering refers to the process of making targeted modifications to the genome, its contexts (e.g., epigenetic marks), or its outputs (e.g., transcripts). The ability to do so easily and efficiently in eukaryotic and especially mammalian cells holds immense promise to transform basic science, biotechnology, and medicine (Figure 1).
For life sciences research, technologies that can delete, insert, and modify the DNA sequences of cells or organisms enable dissecting the function of specific genes and regulatory elements. Multiplexed editing could further allow the interrogation of gene or protein networks at a larger scale. Similarly, manipulating transcriptional regulation or chromatin states at particular loci can reveal how genetic material is organized and utilized within a cell, illuminating relationships between the architecture of the genome and its functions. In biotechnology, precise manipulation of genetic building blocks and regulatory machinery also facilitates the reverse engineering or reconstruction of useful biological systems, for example, by enhancing biofuel production pathways in industrially relevant organisms or by creating infection-resistant crops. Additionally, genome engineering is stimulating a new generation of drug development processes and medical therapeutics. Perturbation of multiple genes simultaneously could model the additive effects that underlie complex polygenic disorders, leading to new drug targets, while genome editing could directly correct harmful mutations in the context of human gene therapy (Tebas et al., 2014).
Eukaryotic genomes contain billions of DNA bases and are difficult to manipulate. One of the breakthroughs in genome manipulation has been the development of gene targeting by homologous recombination (HR), which integrates exogenous repair templates that contain sequence homology to the donor site (Figure 2A) (Capecchi, 1989). HR-mediated targeting has facilitated the generation of knockin and knockout animal models via manipulation of germline competent stem cells, dramatically advancing many areas of biological research. However, although HR-mediated gene targeting produces highly precise alterations, the desired recombination events occur extremely infrequently (1 in 106–109 cells) (Capecchi, 1989), presenting enormous challenges for large-scale applications of gene-targeting experiments.
Genome Editing Technologies Exploit Endogenous DNA Repair Machinery
To overcome these challenges, a series of programmable nuclease-based genome editing technologies have been developed in recent years, enabling targeted and efficient modification of a variety of eukaryotic and particularly mammalian species. Of the current generation of genome editing technologies, the most rapidly developing is the class of RNA-guided endonucleases known as Cas9 from the microbial adaptive immune system CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats), which can be easily targeted to virtually any genomic location of choice by a short RNA guide. Here, we review the development and applications of the CRISPR-associated endonuclease Cas9 as a platform technology for achieving targeted perturbation of endogenous genomic elements and also discuss challenges and future avenues for innovation. ……
Figure 4Natural Mechanisms of Microbial CRISPR Systems in Adaptive Immunity
…… A key turning point came in 2005, when systematic analysis of the spacer sequences separating the individual direct repeats suggested their extrachromosomal and phage-associated origins (Mojica et al., 2005; Pourcel et al., 2005; Bolotin et al., 2005). This insight was tremendously exciting, especially given previous studies showing that CRISPR loci are transcribed (Tang et al., 2002) and that viruses are unable to infect archaeal cells carrying spacers corresponding to their own genomes (Mojica et al., 2005). Together, these findings led to the speculation that CRISPR arrays serve as an immune memory and defense mechanism, and individual spacers facilitate defense against bacteriophage infection by exploiting Watson-Crick base-pairing between nucleic acids (Mojica et al., 2005; Pourcel et al., 2005). Despite these compelling realizations that CRISPR loci might be involved in microbial immunity, the specific mechanism of how the spacers act to mediate viral defense remained a challenging puzzle. Several hypotheses were raised, including thoughts that CRISPR spacers act as small RNA guides to degrade viral transcripts in a RNAi-like mechanism (Makarova et al., 2006) or that CRISPR spacers direct Cas enzymes to cleave viral DNA at spacer-matching regions (Bolotin et al., 2005). …..
As the pace of CRISPR research accelerated, researchers quickly unraveled many details of each type of CRISPR system (Figure 4). Building on an earlier speculation that protospacer adjacent motifs (PAMs) may direct the type II Cas9 nuclease to cleave DNA (Bolotin et al., 2005), Moineau and colleagues highlighted the importance of PAM sequences by demonstrating that PAM mutations in phage genomes circumvented CRISPR interference (Deveau et al., 2008). Additionally, for types I and II, the lack of PAM within the direct repeat sequence within the CRISPR array prevents self-targeting by the CRISPR system. In type III systems, however, mismatches between the 5′ end of the crRNA and the DNA target are required for plasmid interference (Marraffini and Sontheimer, 2010). …..
In 2013, a pair of studies simultaneously showed how to successfully engineer type II CRISPR systems from Streptococcus thermophilus (Cong et al., 2013) andStreptococcus pyogenes (Cong et al., 2013; Mali et al., 2013a) to accomplish genome editing in mammalian cells. Heterologous expression of mature crRNA-tracrRNA hybrids (Cong et al., 2013) as well as sgRNAs (Cong et al., 2013; Mali et al., 2013a) directs Cas9 cleavage within the mammalian cellular genome to stimulate NHEJ or HDR-mediated genome editing. Multiple guide RNAs can also be used to target several genes at once. Since these initial studies, Cas9 has been used by thousands of laboratories for genome editing applications in a variety of experimental model systems (Sander and Joung, 2014). ……
The majority of CRISPR-based technology development has focused on the signature Cas9 nuclease from type II CRISPR systems. However, there remains a wide diversity of CRISPR types and functions. Cas RAMP module (Cmr) proteins identified in Pyrococcus furiosus and Sulfolobus solfataricus (Hale et al., 2012) constitute an RNA-targeting CRISPR immune system, forming a complex guided by small CRISPR RNAs that target and cleave complementary RNA instead of DNA. Cmr protein homologs can be found throughout bacteria and archaea, typically relying on a 5′ site tag sequence on the target-matching crRNA for Cmr-directed cleavage.
Unlike RNAi, which is targeted largely by a 6 nt seed region and to a lesser extent 13 other bases, Cmr crRNAs contain 30–40 nt of target complementarity. Cmr-CRISPR technologies for RNA targeting are thus a promising target for orthogonal engineering and minimal off-target modification. Although the modularity of Cmr systems for RNA-targeting in mammalian cells remains to be investigated, Cmr complexes native to P. furiosus have already been engineered to target novel RNA substrates (Hale et al., 2009, 2012). ……
Although Cas9 has already been widely used as a research tool, a particularly exciting future direction is the development of Cas9 as a therapeutic technology for treating genetic disorders. For a monogenic recessive disorder due to loss-of-function mutations (such as cystic fibrosis, sickle-cell anemia, or Duchenne muscular dystrophy), Cas9 may be used to correct the causative mutation. This has many advantages over traditional methods of gene augmentation that deliver functional genetic copies via viral vector-mediated overexpression—particularly that the newly functional gene is expressed in its natural context. For dominant-negative disorders in which the affected gene is haplosufficient (such as transthyretin-related hereditary amyloidosis or dominant forms of retinitis pigmentosum), it may also be possible to use NHEJ to inactivate the mutated allele to achieve therapeutic benefit. For allele-specific targeting, one could design guide RNAs capable of distinguishing between single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) variations in the target gene, such as when the SNP falls within the PAM sequence.
CRISPR/Cas9: a powerful genetic engineering tool for establishing large animal models of neurodegenerative diseases
Zhuchi Tu, Weili Yang, Sen Yan, Xiangyu Guo and Xiao-Jiang Li
Animal models are extremely valuable to help us understand the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders and to find treatments for them. Since large animals are more like humans than rodents, they make good models to identify the important pathological events that may be seen in humans but not in small animals; large animals are also very important for validating effective treatments or confirming therapeutic targets. Due to the lack of embryonic stem cell lines from large animals, it has been difficult to use traditional gene targeting technology to establish large animal models of neurodegenerative diseases. Recently, CRISPR/Cas9 was used successfully to genetically modify genomes in various species. Here we discuss the use of CRISPR/Cas9 technology to establish large animal models that can more faithfully mimic human neurodegenerative diseases.
Neurodegenerative diseases — Alzheimer’s disease(AD),Parkinson’s disease(PD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington’s disease (HD), and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) — are characterized by age-dependent and selective neurodegeneration. As the life expectancy of humans lengthens, there is a greater prevalence of these neurodegenerative diseases; however, the pathogenesis of most of these neurodegenerative diseases remain unclear, and we lack effective treatments for these important brain disorders.
CRISPR/Cas9, Non-human primates, Neurodegenerative diseases, Animal model
There are a number of excellent reviews covering different types of neurodegenerative diseases and their genetic mouse models [8–12]. Investigations of different mouse models of neurodegenerative diseases have revealed a common pathology shared by these diseases. First, the development of neuropathology and neurological symptoms in genetic mouse models of neurodegenerative diseases is age dependent and progressive. Second, all the mouse models show an accumulation of misfolded or aggregated proteins resulting from the expression of mutant genes. Third, despite the widespread expression of mutant proteins throughout the body and brain, neuronal function appears to be selectively or preferentially affected. All these facts indicate that mouse models of neurodegenerative diseases recapitulate important pathologic features also seen in patients with neurodegenerative diseases.
However, it seems that mouse models can not recapitulate the full range of neuropathology seen in patients with neurodegenerative diseases. Overt neurodegeneration, which is the most important pathological feature in patient brains, is absent in genetic rodent models of AD, PD, and HD. Many rodent models that express transgenic mutant proteins under the control of different promoters do not replicate overt neurodegeneration, which is likely due to their short life spans and the different aging processes of small animals. Also important are the remarkable differences in brain development between rodents and primates. For example, the mouse brain takes 21 days to fully develop, whereas the formation of primate brains requires more than 150 days [13]. The rapid development of the brain in rodents may render neuronal cells resistant to misfolded protein-mediated neurodegeneration. Another difficulty in using rodent models is how to analyze cognitive and emotional abnormalities, which are the early symptoms of most neurodegenerative diseases in humans. Differences in neuronal circuitry, anatomy, and physiology between rodent and primate brains may also account for the behavioral differences between rodent and primate models.
Mitochondrial dynamics–fusion, fission, movement, and mitophagy–in neurodegenerative diseases
Neurons are metabolically active cells with high energy demands at locations distant from the cell body. As a result, these cells are particularly dependent on mitochondrial function, as reflected by the observation that diseases of mitochondrial dysfunction often have a neurodegenerative component. Recent discoveries have highlighted that neurons are reliant particularly on the dynamic properties of mitochondria. Mitochondria are dynamic organelles by several criteria. They engage in repeated cycles of fusion and fission, which serve to intermix the lipids and contents of a population of mitochondria. In addition, mitochondria are actively recruited to subcellular sites, such as the axonal and dendritic processes of neurons. Finally, the quality of a mitochondrial population is maintained through mitophagy, a form of autophagy in which defective mitochondria are selectively degraded. We review the general features of mitochondrial dynamics, incorporating recent findings on mitochondrial fusion, fission, transport and mitophagy. Defects in these key features are associated with neurodegenerative disease. Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 2A, a peripheral neuropathy, and dominant optic atrophy, an inherited optic neuropathy, result from a primary deficiency of mitochondrial fusion. Moreover, several major neurodegenerative diseases—including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease—involve disruption of mitochondrial dynamics. Remarkably, in several disease models, the manipulation of mitochondrial fusion or fission can partially rescue disease phenotypes. We review how mitochondrial dynamics is altered in these neurodegenerative diseases and discuss the reciprocal interactions between mitochondrial fusion, fission, transport and mitophagy.
Applications of CRISPR–Cas systems in Neuroscience
Genome-editing tools, and in particular those based on CRISPR–Cas (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)–CRISPR-associated protein) systems, are accelerating the pace of biological research and enabling targeted genetic interrogation in almost any organism and cell type. These tools have opened the door to the development of new model systems for studying the complexity of the nervous system, including animal models and stem cell-derived in vitro models. Precise and efficient gene editing using CRISPR–Cas systems has the potential to advance both basic and translational neuroscience research.
Cellular neuroscience, DNA recombination, Genetic engineering, Molecular neuroscience
Figure 3: In vitro applications of Cas9 in human iPSCs.close
a | Evaluation of disease candidate genes from large-population genome-wide association studies (GWASs). Human primary cells, such as neurons, are not easily available and are difficult to expand in culture. By contrast, induced pluripo…
The development of the CRISPR/Cas9 system has made gene editing a relatively simple task. While CRISPR and other gene editing technologies stand to revolutionize biomedical research and offers many promising therapeutic avenues (such as in the treatment of HIV), a great deal of debate exists over whether CRISPR should be used to modify human embryos. As I discussed in my previous Insight article, we lack enough fundamental biological knowledge to enhance many traits like height or intelligence, so we are not near a future with genetically-enhanced super babies. However, scientists have identified a few rare genetic variants that protect against disease. One such protective variant is a mutation in the APP gene that protects against Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline in old age. If we can perfect gene editing technologies, is this mutation one that we should be regularly introducing into embryos? In this article, I explore the potential for using gene editing as a way to prevent Alzheimer’s disease in future generations. Alzheimer’s Disease: Medicine’s Greatest Challenge in the 21st Century Can gene editing be the missing piece in the battle against Alzheimer’s? (Source: bostonbiotech.org) I chose to assess the benefit of germline gene editing in the context of Alzheimer’s disease because this disease is one of the biggest challenges medicine faces in the 21st century. Alzheimer’s disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disease responsible for the majority of the cases of dementia in the elderly. The disease symptoms begins with short term memory loss and causes more severe symptoms – problems with language, disorientation, mood swings, behavioral issues – as it progresses, eventually leading to the loss of bodily functions and death. Because of the dementia the disease causes, Alzheimer’s patients require a great deal of care, and the world spends ~1% of its total GDP on caring for those with Alzheimer’s and related disorders. Because the prevalence of the disease increases with age, the situation will worsen as life expectancies around the globe increase: worldwide cases of Alzheimer’s are expected to grow from 35 million today to over 115 million by 2050.
Despite much research, the exact causes of Alzheimer’s disease remains poorly understood. The disease seems to be related to the accumulation of plaques made of amyloid-β peptides that form on the outside of neurons, as well as the formation of tangles of the protein tau inside of neurons. Although many efforts have been made to target amyloid-β or the enzymes involved in its formation, we have so far been unsuccessful at finding any treatment that stops the disease or reverses its progress. Some researchers believe that most attempts at treating Alzheimer’s have failed because, by the time a patient shows symptoms, the disease has already progressed past the point of no return.
While research towards a cure continues, researchers have sought effective ways to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Although some studies show that mental and physical exercise may lower ones risk of Alzheimer’s disease, approximately 60-80% of the risk for Alzheimer’s disease appears to be genetic. Thus, if we’re serious about prevention, we may have to act at the genetic level. And because the brain is difficult to access surgically for gene therapy in adults, this means using gene editing on embryos.
With the latest CRISPR/Cas9 advance, the exhortation “turn on, tune in, drop out” comes to mind. The CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing system was already a well-known means of “tuning in” (inserting new genes) and “dropping out” (knocking out genes). But when it came to “turning on” genes, CRISPR/Cas9 had little potency. That is, it had demonstrated only limited success as a way to activate specific genes.
A new CRISPR/Cas9 approach, however, appears capable of activating genes more effectively than older approaches. The new approach may allow scientists to more easily determine the function of individual genes, according to Feng Zhang, Ph.D., a researcher at MIT and the Broad Institute. Dr. Zhang and colleagues report that the new approach permits multiplexed gene activation and rapid, large-scale studies of gene function.
The new technique was introduced in the December 10 online edition of Nature, in an article entitled, “Genome-scale transcriptional activation by an engineered CRISPR-Cas9 complex.” The article describes how Dr. Zhang, along with the University of Tokyo’s Osamu Nureki, Ph.D., and Hiroshi Nishimasu, Ph.D., overhauled the CRISPR/Cas9 system. The research team based their work on their analysis (published earlier this year) of the structure formed when Cas9 binds to the guide RNA and its target DNA. Specifically, the team used the structure’s 3D shape to rationally improve the system.
In previous efforts to revamp CRISPR/Cas9 for gene activation purposes, scientists had tried to attach the activation domains to either end of the Cas9 protein, with limited success. From their structural studies, the MIT team realized that two small loops of the RNA guide poke out from the Cas9 complex and could be better points of attachment because they allow the activation domains to have more flexibility in recruiting transcription machinery.
Using their revamped system, the researchers activated about a dozen genes that had proven difficult or impossible to turn on using the previous generation of Cas9 activators. Each gene showed at least a twofold boost in transcription, and for many genes, the researchers found multiple orders of magnitude increase in activation.
After investigating single-guide RNA targeting rules for effective transcriptional activation, demonstrating multiplexed activation of 10 genes simultaneously, and upregulating long intergenic noncoding RNA transcripts, the research team decided to undertake a large-scale screen. This screen was designed to identify genes that confer resistance to a melanoma drug called PLX-4720.
“We … synthesized a library consisting of 70,290 guides targeting all human RefSeq coding isoforms to screen for genes that, upon activation, confer resistance to a BRAF inhibitor,” wrote the authors of the Nature paper. “The top hits included genes previously shown to be able to confer resistance, and novel candidates were validated using individual [single-guide RNA] and complementary DNA overexpression.”
A gene signature based on the top screening hits, the authors added, correlated with a gene expression signature of BRAF inhibitor resistance in cell lines and patient-derived samples. It was also suggested that large-scale screens such as the one demonstrated in the current study could help researchers discover new cancer drugs that prevent tumors from becoming resistant.
Familial amyloid polyneuropathy type I is an autosomal dominant disorder caused by mutations in the transthyretin (TTR ) gene; however, carriers of the same mutation exhibit variability in penetrance and clinical expression. We analyzed alleles of candidate genes encoding non-fibrillar components of TTR amyloid deposits and a molecule metabolically interacting with TTR [retinol-binding protein (RBP)], for possible associations with age of disease onset and/or susceptibility in a Portuguese population sample with the TTR V30M mutation and unrelated controls. We show that the V30M carriers represent a distinct subset of the Portuguese population. Estimates of genetic distance indicated that the controls and the classical onset group were furthest apart, whereas the late-onset group appeared to differ from both. Importantly, the data also indicate that genetic interactions among the multiple loci evaluated, rather than single-locus effects, are more likely to determine differences in the age of disease onset. Multifactor dimensionality reduction indicated that the best genetic model for classical onset group versus controls involved the APCS gene, whereas for late-onset cases, one APCS variant (APCSv1) and two RBP variants (RBPv1 and RBPv2) are involved. Thus, although the TTR V30M mutation is required for the disease in Portuguese patients, different genetic factors may govern the age of onset, as well as the occurrence of anticipation.
Autosomal dominant disorders may vary in expression even within a given kindred. The basis of this variability is uncertain and can be attributed to epigenetic factors, environment or epistasis. We have studied familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP), an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by peripheral sensorimotor and autonomic neuropathy. It exhibits variation in cardiac, renal, gastrointestinal and ocular involvement, as well as age of onset. Over 80 missense mutations in the transthyretin gene (TTR ) result in autosomal dominant disease http://www.ibmc.up.pt/~mjsaraiv/ttrmut.html). The presence of deposits consisting entirely of wild-type TTR molecules in the hearts of 10– 25% of individuals over age 80 reveals its inherent in vivo amyloidogenic potential (1).
FAP was initially described in Portuguese (2) where, until recently, the TTR V30M has been the only pathogenic mutation associated with the disease (3,4). Later reports identified the same mutation in Swedish and Japanese families (5,6). The disorder has since been recognized in other European countries and in North American kindreds in association with V30M, as well as other mutations (7).
TTR V30M produces disease in only 5–10% of Swedish carriers of the allele (8), a much lower degree of penetrance than that seen in Portuguese (80%) (9) or in Japanese with the same mutation. The actual penetrance in Japanese carriers has not been formally established, but appears to resemble that seen in Portuguese. Portuguese and Japanese carriers show considerable variation in the age of clinical onset (10,11). In both populations, the first symptoms had originally been described as typically occurring before age 40 (so-called ‘classical’ or early-onset); however, in recent years, more individuals developing symptoms late in life have been identified (11,12). Hence, present data indicate that the distribution of the age of onset in Portuguese is continuous, but asymmetric with a mean around age 35 and a long tail into the older age group (Fig. 1) (9,13). Further, DNA testing in Portugal has identified asymptomatic carriers over age 70 belonging to a subset of very late-onset kindreds in whose descendants genetic anticipation is frequent. The molecular basis of anticipation in FAP, which is not mediated by trinucleotide repeat expansions in the TTR or any other gene (14), remains elusive.
Variation in penetrance, age of onset and clinical features are hallmarks of many autosomal dominant disorders including the human TTR amyloidoses (7). Some of these clearly reflect specific biological effects of a particular mutation or a class of mutants. However, when such phenotypic variability is seen with a single mutation in the gene encoding the same protein, it suggests an effect of modifying genetic loci and/or environmental factors contributing differentially to the course of disease. We have chosen to examine age of onset as an example of a discrete phenotypic variation in the presence of the particular autosomal dominant disease-associated mutation TTR V30M. Although the role of environmental factors cannot be excluded, the existence of modifier genes involved in TTR amyloidogenesis is an attractive hypothesis to explain the phenotypic variability in FAP. ….
ATTR (TTR amyloid), like all amyloid deposits, contains several molecular components, in addition to the quantitatively dominant fibril-forming amyloid protein, including heparan sulfate proteoglycan 2 (HSPG2 or perlecan), SAP, a plasma glycoprotein of the pentraxin family (encoded by the APCS gene) that undergoes specific calcium-dependent binding to all types of amyloid fibrils, and apolipoprotein E (ApoE), also found in all amyloid deposits (15). The ApoE4 isoform is associated with an increased frequency and earlier onset of Alzheimer’s disease (Ab), the most common form of brain amyloid, whereas the ApoE2 isoform appears to be protective (16). ApoE variants could exert a similar modulatory effect in the onset of FAP, although early studies on a limited number of patients suggested this was not the case (17).
In at least one instance of senile systemic amyloidosis, small amounts of AA-related material were found in TTR deposits (18). These could reflect either a passive co-aggregation or a contributory involvement of protein AA, encoded by the serum amyloid A (SAA ) genes and the main component of secondary (reactive) amyloid fibrils, in the formation of ATTR.
Retinol-binding protein (RBP), the serum carrier of vitamin A, circulates in plasma bound to TTR. Vitamin A-loaded RBP and L-thyroxine, the two natural ligands of TTR, can act alone or synergistically to inhibit the rate and extent of TTR fibrillogenesis in vitro, suggesting that RBP may influence the course of FAP pathology in vivo (19). We have analyzed coding and non-coding sequence polymorphisms in the RBP4 (serum RBP, 10q24), HSPG2 (1p36.1), APCS (1q22), APOE (19q13.2), SAA1 and SAA2 (11p15.1) genes with the goal of identifying chromosomes carrying common and functionally significant variants. At the time these studies were performed, the full human genome sequence was not completed and systematic singlenucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analyses were not available for any of the suspected candidate genes. We identified new SNPs in APCS and RBP4 and utilized polymorphisms in SAA, HSPG2 and APOE that had already been characterized and shown to have potential pathophysiologic significance in other disorders (16,20–22). The genotyping data were analyzed for association with the presence of the V30M amyloidogenic allele (FAP patients versus controls) and with the age of onset (classical- versus late-onset patients). Multilocus analyses were also performed to examine the effects of simultaneous contributions of the six loci for determining the onset of the first symptoms. …..
The potential for different underlying models for classical and late onset is supported by the MDR analysis, which produces two distinct models when comparing each class with the controls. One could view the two onset classes as unique diseases. If this is the case, then the failure to detect a single predictive genetic model is consistent with two related, but different, diseases. This is exactly what would be expected in such a case of genetic heterogeneity (28). Using this approach, a major gene effect can be viewed as a necessary, but not sufficient, condition to explain the course of the disease. Analyzing the cases but omitting from the analysis of phenotype the necessary allele, in this case TTR V30M, can then reveal a variety of important modifiers that are distinct between the phenotypes.
The significant comparisons obtained in our study cohort indicate that the combined effects mainly result from two and three-locus interactions involving all loci except SAA1 and SAA2 for susceptibility to disease. A considerable number of four-site combinations modulate the age of onset with SAA1 appearing in a majority of significant combinations in late-onset disease, perhaps indicating a greater role of the SAA variants in the age of onset of FAP.
The correlation between genotype and phenotype in socalled simple Mendelian disorders is often incomplete, as only a subset of all mutations can reliably predict specific phenotypes (34). This is because non-allelic genetic variations and/or environmental influences underlie these disorders whose phenotypes behave as complex traits. A few examples include the identification of the role of homozygozity for the SAA1.1 allele in conferring the genetic susceptibility to renal amyloidosis in FMF (20) and the association of an insertion/deletion polymorphism in the ACE gene with disease severity in familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (35). In these disorders, the phenotypes arise from mutations in MEFV and b-MHC, but are modulated by independently inherited genetic variation. In this report, we show that interactions among multiple genes, whose products are confirmed or putative constituents of ATTR deposits, or metabolically interact with TTR, modulate the onset of the first symptoms and predispose individuals to disease in the presence of the V30M mutation in TTR. The exact nature of the effects identified here requires further study with potential application in the development of genetic screening with prognostic value pertaining to the onset of disease in the TTR V30M carriers.
If the effects of additional single or interacting genes dictate the heterogeneity of phenotype, as reflected in variability of onset and clinical expression (with the same TTR mutation), the products encoded by alleles at such loci could contribute to the process of wild-type TTR deposition in elderly individuals without a mutation (senile systemic amyloidosis), a phenomenon not readily recognized as having a genetic basis because of the insensitivity of family history in the elderly.
Safety and Efficacy of RNAi Therapy for Transthyretin Amyloidosis
Transthyretin amyloidosis is caused by the deposition of hepatocyte-derived transthyretin amyloid in peripheral nerves and the heart. A therapeutic approach mediated by RNA interference (RNAi) could reduce the production of transthyretin.
Methods We identified a potent antitransthyretin small interfering RNA, which was encapsulated in two distinct first- and second-generation formulations of lipid nanoparticles, generating ALN-TTR01 and ALN-TTR02, respectively. Each formulation was studied in a single-dose, placebo-controlled phase 1 trial to assess safety and effect on transthyretin levels. We first evaluated ALN-TTR01 (at doses of 0.01 to 1.0 mg per kilogram of body weight) in 32 patients with transthyretin amyloidosis and then evaluated ALN-TTR02 (at doses of 0.01 to 0.5 mg per kilogram) in 17 healthy volunteers.
Results Rapid, dose-dependent, and durable lowering of transthyretin levels was observed in the two trials. At a dose of 1.0 mg per kilogram, ALN-TTR01 suppressed transthyretin, with a mean reduction at day 7 of 38%, as compared with placebo (P=0.01); levels of mutant and nonmutant forms of transthyretin were lowered to a similar extent. For ALN-TTR02, the mean reductions in transthyretin levels at doses of 0.15 to 0.3 mg per kilogram ranged from 82.3 to 86.8%, with reductions of 56.6 to 67.1% at 28 days (P<0.001 for all comparisons). These reductions were shown to be RNAi mediated. Mild-to-moderate infusion-related reactions occurred in 20.8% and 7.7% of participants receiving ALN-TTR01 and ALN-TTR02, respectively.
ALN-TTR01 and ALN-TTR02 suppressed the production of both mutant and nonmutant forms of transthyretin, establishing proof of concept for RNAi therapy targeting messenger RNA transcribed from a disease-causing gene.
Alnylam May Seek Approval for TTR Amyloidosis Rx in 2017 as Other Programs Advance
Officials from Alnylam Pharmaceuticals last week provided updates on the two drug candidates from the company’s flagship transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis program, stating that the intravenously delivered agent patisiran is proceeding toward a possible market approval in three years, while a subcutaneously administered version called ALN-TTRsc is poised to enter Phase III testing before the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Alnylam is set to advance a handful of preclinical therapies into human studies in short order, including ones for complement-mediated diseases, hypercholesterolemia, and porphyria.
The officials made their comments during a conference call held to discuss Alnylam’s second-quarter financial results.
ATTR is caused by a mutation in the TTR gene, which normally produces a protein that acts as a carrier for retinol binding protein and is characterized by the accumulation of amyloid deposits in various tissues. Alnylam’s drugs are designed to silence both the mutant and wild-type forms of TTR.
Patisiran, which is delivered using lipid nanoparticles developed by Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, is currently in a Phase III study in patients with a form of ATTR called familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP) affecting the peripheral nervous system. Running at over 20 sites in nine countries, that study is set to enroll up to 200 patients and compare treatment to placebo based on improvements in neuropathy symptoms.
According to Alnylam Chief Medical Officer Akshay Vaishnaw, Alnylam expects to have final data from the study in two to three years, which would put patisiran on track for a new drug application filing in 2017.
Meanwhile, ALN-TTRsc, which is under development for a version of ATTR that affects cardiac tissue called familial amyloidotic cardiomyopathy (FAC) and uses Alnylam’s proprietary GalNAc conjugate delivery technology, is set to enter Phase III by year-end as Alnylam holds “active discussions” with US and European regulators on the design of that study, CEO John Maraganore noted during the call.
In the interim, Alnylam continues to enroll patients in a pilot Phase II study of ALN-TTRsc, which is designed to test the drug’s efficacy for FAC or senile systemic amyloidosis (SSA), a condition caused by the idiopathic accumulation of wild-type TTR protein in the heart.
Based on “encouraging” data thus far, Vaishnaw said that Alnylam has upped the expected enrollment in this study to 25 patients from 15. Available data from the trial is slated for release in November, he noted, stressing that “any clinical endpoint result needs to be considered exploratory given the small sample size and the very limited duration of treatment of only six weeks” in the trial.
Vaishnaw added that an open-label extension (OLE) study for patients in the ALN-TTRsc study will kick off in the coming weeks, allowing the company to gather long-term dosing tolerability and clinical activity data on the drug.
Enrollment in an OLE study of patisiran has been completed with 27 patients, he said, and, “as of today, with up to nine months of therapy … there have been no study drug discontinuations.” Clinical endpoint data from approximately 20 patients in this study will be presented at the American Neurological Association meeting in October.
As part of its ATTR efforts, Alnylam has also been conducting natural history of disease studies in both FAP and FAC patients. Data from the 283-patient FAP study was presented earlier this year and showed a rapid progression in neuropathy impairment scores and a high correlation of this measurement with disease severity.
During last week’s conference call, Vaishnaw said that clinical endpoint and biomarker data on about 400 patients with either FAC or SSA have already been collected in a nature history study on cardiac ATTR. Maraganore said that these findings would likely be released sometime next year.
The first medication for a rare and often fatal protein misfolding disorder has been approved in Europe. On November 16, the E gave a green light to Pfizer’s Vyndaqel (tafamidis) for treating transthyretin amyloidosis in adult patients with stage 1 polyneuropathy symptoms. [Jeffery Kelly, La Jolla]
The most clinically advanced RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutic achieved a milestone in April when Alnylam Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, Massachusetts, reported positive results for patisiran, a small interfering RNA (siRNA) oligonucleotide targeting transthyretin for treating familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP). …
FAP is characterized by the systemic deposition of amyloidogenic variants of the transthyretin protein, especially in the peripheral nervous system, causing a progressive sensory and motor polyneuropathy.
FAP is caused by a mutation of the TTR gene, located on human chromosome 18q12.1-11.2.[5] A replacement of valine by methionine at position 30 (TTR V30M) is the mutation most commonly found in FAP.[1] The variant TTR is mostly produced by the liver.[citation needed] The transthyretin protein is a tetramer. ….
How the ACLU Won the Fight Against Patenting Genes: Article and video on the History of the Issue of Gene Patents
Curator: Stephen J. Williams, PhD
please see the TED talk below on how ACLU took on the Gene Patenting Industry:
Tania Simoncelli – How I took on the gene patent industry — and won – Ted Talks 2016
This fight started with the patenting of the BRCA1/2 gene mutants, which increase the risk of breast/ovarian cancer in women who harbor these mutation as well as their offspring, which would be the basis for genetic testing services offered by Myriad Genetics.
However, as seen below, these patent fights and the patenting of DNA has been around since the mid 1970’s, with the advent of cloning and other molecular biology techniques.
In April 2009, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) granted the 50,000th U.S. patent that entered the DNA Patent Database at Georgetown University. That database includes patents that make claims mentioning terms specific to nucleic acids (e.g., DNA, RNA, nucleotide, plasmid, etc.) (64). The specificity of many terms unique to nucleic acid structures makes it possible to monitor patents that correspond to and arise largely from research in genetics and genomics. Patents have been a part of the story of the rise of genetics and genomics since the 1970s, and not just because they can be counted but also because science and commerce have been deeply intertwined, one chapter in the story of modern biotechnology in medicine, agriculture, energy, environment, and other economic sectors. The first DNA patents were granted in the 1970s, but numbers surged in the mid-1990s as molecular genetic techniques began to produce patentable inventions.
U.S. Patents: DNA Patents and Patent Applications by Year, 1984–2008. The DNA Patent Database contains patents obtained by searching the Delphion Patent Database (http://www.delphion.com) with an algorithm posted on the DNA Patent Database website that searches for granted U.S. patents (since 1971) and published applications (since 2001) in U.S. patent classes related to genetics and genomics as well as claims that include words specific to nucleic acids, genetics, and genomics. The year 1984 is the first for which more than 100 granted patents are in the DNA Patent Database. Data from Reference 64.
The authors make several points concerning obtaining patents in the genomics field including:
Differences in patent practice can be important to scientists working in genetics and genomics. In the United States, a patent goes to the first inventor. If patents or patent applications overlap and the first person to invent is in dispute, then the patent office initiates what’s called an interference proceeding, with intricate rules about deciding priority of invention.
Interferences are more than twice as common in biotechnology patents than in any other patent class, six times higher than patents on average (140).
The United States also allows a year’s grace period from publication of information pertinent to a patent claim, whereas any public disclosure becomes “prior art” that can defeat patent claims in other jurisdictions.
International harmonization of DNA patents exist including:
1973 European Patent Convention created the European Patent Office (EPO). EPO can issue a patent valid in signatory countries
1995 Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement committed signatory countries to adopt patent standards mainly modeled on the developed-country model of strong patent protection
1998 Biotechnology Directive: the Directive became an important element of European patent law that binds national governments to comply with it
Both the United States House and Senate of the 111th Congress are considering bills similar to one passed by the House of Representatives (but not the Senate) in the 110th Congress (2007–2008). Two provisions particularly relevant to genetic and genomic inventions are (a) shifting from the current “first to invent” U.S. standard to “first inventor to file,” as in the rest of the world; and (b) establishing a mechanism to challenge patent claims closer to the European opposition process.
top 30 institutions holding patents in the DNA Patent Database. Among them are
Agribusiness and chemical companies (Monsanto and DuPont)
U.S. Government (largely attributable to the large intramural research program at the National Institutes of Health)
Public and private universities (Universities of California and Texas, Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Stanford, MIT, etc.)
Established biotechnology firms (Genentech, Amgen, Genzyme, ISIS, etc.)
Firms created to exploit genomic technologies (Incyte, Human Genome Sciences, etc.)
Instrumentation and DNA chip firms (LifeTechnologies, Affymetrix, Becton, Dickinson, etc.)
Academic research institutes (Institut Pasteur, Salk, Scripps, and Ludwig Institutes, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, etc.)
Hospitals with research units (e.g., Massachusetts General Hospital)
Top U.S. DNA patent holders. The authors compiled a list of assignees with at least 100 patents, combined different names for the same assignee, and updated names to reflect corporate mergers and acquisitions. Patent counts are from the Delphion Patent Database for U.S. patents granted as of October 26, 2009, using the DNA Patent Database algorithm (64). Data from Reference 64. From Cook-Deegan, R. and C. Heany. Annu Rev Genomics Hum Genet. 2010 Sep 22; 11: 383–425.
And an opinion article by Harvard Law School arguing against the patent-ability of natural products such as DNA:
How Merck’s attempt to patent Vitamin B12 may have started a precedent:
In addition to Kuehmsted, the case most frequently cited to support the patentability of “purified and isolated” substances is Merck & Company v. Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation[44] . In 1958, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit addressed the metes and bounds of the product of nature exception in Merck . The invention at the center of Merck was entitled, “Vitamin B(12)-Active Composition and Process of Preparing Same”.
Prior to the discovery claimed by the patent, vitamin B(12) was unknown to man. What had been known was that patients who had pernicious anemia could mitigate the effects of their condition by consuming cow liver. For years the scientific community analyzed cow liver to determine what in cow liver was the therapeutically active compound. For lack of a better term, scientists named this unknown therapeutic agent the “anti-pernicious anemia” compound.
After a considerable amount of chemical analysis, scientists at Merck isolated the “anti-pernicious anemia” compound in cow liver. They also discovered an alternate source of the “anti-pernicious anemia” compound. Merck scientists were able to harvest the “anti-pernicious anemia” compound from the fermenting eluent of certain microorganisms. After isolating and characterizing the structure of the newly found “anti-pernicious anemia” compound, the scientist renamed it vitamin B(12) for its chemical similarities to the vitamin B family.
Having discovered vitamin B(12), Merck filed for and obtained U.S. patent 2,703,302 (‘the ‘302 patent”) covering both the process of making vitamin B(12) and the actual chemical compound for vitamin B(12). Only the product claims were at issue in Merck[45] . A representative product claim reads:
A vitamin B(12)-active composition comprising recovered elaboration products of the fermentation of a vitamin B(12)-activity producing strain of Fungi selected from the class consisting of Schizomycetes, Torula, and Eremothecium, the L.L.D. activity of said composition being at least 440 L.L.D. units per milligram and less than 11 million L.L.D. units per milligram.[46]
Prior to the appeal, the district court had determined that the product claims were invalid as products of nature. The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed. In reversing the District Court, the Fourth Circuit followed a line of reasoning similar to Kuehmsted.The Court of Appeals reasoned that the product of nature was the unpurified fermenting eluent which had no therapeutic value. However, Merck’s purified fermenting eluent had therapeutic value. Thus, the court believed Merck’s purified product, which was essentially vitamin B(12), was a different from unpurified fermenting eluent. Since Merck’s purified product was different from the product of nature, the court reasoned that it could not be a product of nature.
The main weakness in the Merck decision is similar to weakness of the Kuehmsted decision. Can vitamin B(12) be considered “new” if it always existed in cow liver? In addition, is it necessary to grant Merck both product and process claims? Even without the product claims, Merck will still be able to profit handsomely from the process claims alone. In addition, Merck could have applied for a vitamin B(12) use patent. Merck could have patented the therapeutic use of their vitamin B(12) for treating pernicious anemia.
There are two interesting aspects of the courts decision in Merck . First, in coming to its conclusion that the purified fermentate was not a product of nature the court turned to the phrase “new and useful” contained in section 101. This was an appropriate focus of analysis for the court because it is from this phrase that the product of nature exception is derived. However, in interpreting the phrase “new and useful” the court substituted the patent terms “novelty and utility”.[47]
The threshold for meeting the utility requirement for patentability is very low. Nearly all inventions meet the utility requirement. It is the Fourth Circuit’s reliance on the patent requirement of novelty for the term “new” which is more interesting. The court’s reliance of the novelty standard presents an interesting interpretation because the product of nature exception is not premised solely on the novelty requirement.[48] The product of nature doctrine simply states that products of nature are not patentable because they are made by nature, not by man. Furthermore, since products of nature existed in nature prior to man’s discovery of them, they are not new and thus excluded from patentability.
The novelty standard requires a different analysis. Although the issue of novelty also addresses the question as to whether or not an invention is new, the question of novelty is answered by looking at the prior art. Roughly speaking, the prior art exemplifies man’s entire body of scientific knowledge at the time of invention. In order to be novel, an invention must not be recited in one piece of prior art. For example, to demonstrate a lack of novelty, a single scientific journal article must describe how to extract vitamin B(12) from a fungal fermenting eluent.
The problem with using the novelty requirement to interpret “new” with regard to product of nature purposes is that no product of nature would be found in the prior art before it was discovered. In effect, using the novelty standard eviscerates the product of nature exception. The novelty standard also circumvents the purpose of the product of nature doctrine which is to prevent man from claiming “manifestations of [the] laws of nature”.[49]
For illustrative purposes we can use vitamin B(12) as an example. According to the Fourth Circuit, in order for vitamin B(12) to be considered a product of nature it must lack novelty. To lack novelty, vitamin B(12) must be recited in a single prior art source. Before its discovery by Merck, vitamin B(12) was unknown and hence could not be found in any prior art source. However, vitamin B(12) has always existed as a naturally occurring substance in cow liver (i.e. a product of nature). Despite clear evidence that vitamin B(12) is a product of nature, the Fourth Circuit would permit a patent on vitamin B(12).
This approach nullifies the purpose of the product of nature doctrine. By using the novelty standard, the court never asks the question whether or not vitamin B(12) was made by man. The purpose of the product of nature doctrine is to prevent man from patenting what is made by nature and should thus be accessible to everyone. The Fourth Circuit’s novelty analysis does not consider this.
The second interesting point about Merck is the product claim itself. In claim 1 recited above, vitamin B(12) is claimed only as a product of fermentation. Merck did not claim the vitamin B(12)chemical formula. This is a significant distinction because competitors could design around Merck’s product claim if they could manufacture vitamin B(12) without utilizing the fermenting eluent of fungi. For example, a manufacturer who processed cow livers to obtain vitamin B(12) could sell its version of vitamin B(12) product without infringing Merck’s product claims[50] . With cases such as Kuehmsted and Merck on one side of the product of nature debate, there are several cases which fall on the other side of the debate[51] . In addition to Funk Brothers, General Electric Co. v. De Forest Radio Co.[52] is representative of a court decision upholding the product of nature exception. The invention at the center of General Electric was the chemical element tungsten (W). General Electric was assigned U.S. Patent 1,082,933 (the ‘933 patent) for tungsten.
Is DNA Patentable Subject Matter?
As the cases discussed indicate, it is not entirely clear whether or not DNA sequences are patentable subject matter. What is clear is that processes for isolating DNA sequences are permissible as are product claims that use DNA sequences (such as Chakrabarty’s genetically modified micro-organism). In addition, inventors could get patents for the therapeutic uses of their DNA sequence products.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Chakrabarty indicates an intention by the court to expand the scope of patentable subject matter, but the product of nature doctrine still remains. Whether or not the product of nature exception will apply to DNA sequences depends upon how the courts view DNA sequences. If the courts analogize isolated and purified DNA sequences to aspirin or vitamin B(12), then DNA sequences would be moved outside the product of nature exception and into the scope of patentable subject matter. On the other hand, if DNA sequences are comparable to tungsten or “manifestation of laws of nature” then the product of nature exception would apply.
As the law is currently interpreted by patent practitioners, the product of nature exception to patentable subject matter is considered a technical problem related to drafting DNA sequence product claims. For the patent attorney, all that is necessary to get around the product of nature exception is to not claim a DNA in its naturally occurring form. In order to resolve this technical problem, a patent attorney will claim DNA sequences in an “isolated and purified” form. For example, Amgen’s DNA sequence claim to EPO in United States Patent 4,703,008 reads, “A purified and isolated DNA sequence consisting essentially of a DNA sequence encoding human erythropoietin.”[57]
DNA sequences have been described as molecular strands of genetic information.[59] Information which is so fundamental that it is akin to the natural laws of science. This fundamental information, in the words of Funk Brothers , is “part of the storehouse of knowledge of all men. They are manifestations of laws of nature, free to all men and reserved exclusively to none.”[60] As manifestations of the laws of nature, DNA sequences should be free to all men. By unlocking the hidden secrets of the genetic code, scientists will be able to produce new medical therapies to treat a wide range of illnesses. It is these new therapeutic inventions, their uses, and the processes for making them which should be patented, not the DNA sequences used to implement these inventions.
Although DNA sequences have been analogized to long polymer chains[65] and as a result should be treated similarly to synthesized polymers, this is not entirely correct. The analogy fails because an inventor’s ingenuity plays a part in designing a polymer chain. A chemist will manipulate reaction conditions to produce a polymer with certain characteristics such as strength, durability, and flexibility. This is not the case with DNA. The inventor’s ingenuity, once again, plays no part in designing the DNA sequence as this was the work of nature over thousands of years of evolution.
So the Harvard Law School article concludes:
Patentable subject matter is statutorily defined in 35 U.S.C. Section 101 to include new and useful products (machines, manufactures, and compositions of matter) and processes. However, subject matter which fall outside the scope of Section 101 are products of nature.
There are two general arguments for excluding products of nature from patentable subject matter. First, is that products of nature are the “manifestations of laws of nature”. As the building blocks of science, to grant ownership to these fundamental products would do more harm than good to scientific innovation. Second, is the patent system’s purpose in encouraging inventorship. An inherent aspect of inventorship is interaction of human ingenuity with the natural world. Products of nature are excluded from patentability because they would grant ownership rights to the natural world without any element of human ingenuity. These product of nature patents would reward inventors for nature’s work.
Man has played no part in creating DNA. What required man’s ingenuity was isolating, purifying, and sequencing the DNA. These inventions deserve patent protection.
Other articles on this Open Access Journal on Patents, Patent Fights and Intellectual Property include:
FAP is caused by a mutation of the TTR gene, located on human chromosome18q12.1-11.2.[5] A replacement of valine by methionine at position 30 (TTR V30M) is the mutation most commonly found in FAP.[1] The variant TTR is mostly produced by the liver.[citation needed] The transthyretin protein is a tetramer. The tetramer has to dissociate into misfolded monomers to aggregate into a variety of structures including amyloid fibrils. Because most patients are heterozygotes, they deposit both mutant and wild type TTR subnits.
FAP is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner.[2] This means that the defective gene responsible for the disorder is located on anautosome (chromosome 18 is an autosome), and only one copy of the defective gene is sufficient to cause the disorder, when inherited from a parent who has the disorder.
ATTRV30M-related amyloidosis
Familial amyloid polyneuropathy type I (Portuguese-Swedish-Japanese Type)
TTR amyloid neuropathy
Transthyretin amyloid neuropathy
Transthyretin amyloid polyneuropathy
Prevalence
Unknown
Inheritance
Autosomal dominant
Age of onset
Adult
Familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP) or transthyretin (TTR) amyloid polyneuropathy is a progressive sensorimotor and autonomic neuropathy of adulthood onset. Weight loss and cardiac involvement are frequent; ocular or renal complications may also occur. The prevalence worldwide is unknown, but the prevalence in the general population in Japan has recently been estimated at around 1 per million.
FAP is clinically heterogeneous, with the clinical presentation depending on the genotype and geographic origin. FAP usually presents as a length-dependent sensory polyneuropathy with autonomic disturbances. Inaugural manifestations are paresthesiae, pain or trophic lesions of the feet, gastrointestinal disorders or weight loss. The most pronounced sensory loss involves pain and temperature sensation. Motor loss occurs later. Autonomic features include postural hypotension, and gastrointestinal and genitourinary disorders.
FAP is transmitted as an autosomal dominant trait and is caused by mutations in the TTR gene (18q12.1). 100 TTR mutations have been identified so far and are associated with varying patterns of organ involvement, age of onset and disease progression. The most common variant is the TTR Val30Met substitution for which several endemic foci have been identified most notably from Portugal, Japan and Sweden. However, the Val30Met phenotype varies between these countries.
Detection of amyloid-associated TTR mutations is required for diagnosis. However, identification of a disease-causing mutation is not considered as diagnostic because penetrance is variable. Clinical observation and tissue biopsy (from the nerve or kidney, labial salivary glands, subcutaneous fat tissue or rectal mucosa) are required for a definitive diagnosis: amyloid deposits are characterized by Congo red staining on light microscopy and green birefringence on polarized light microscopy.
The differential diagnosis should include diabetic neuropathy, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (see this term), and light chain (AL), gelsolin and apolipoprotein A1 amyloidosis (see these terms). Antenatal diagnosis through chorionic villus sampling should be proposed to patients with early-onset (< 40 years) forms of FAP.
Genetic counseling should be offered to affected families and presymptomatic detection of relatives of an index case is important to allow early diagnosis.
Management of FAP should be multidisciplinary, involving a neurologist, geneticist, cardiologist and liver surgeon. Liver transplantation (LT) is currently the only treatment for preventing synthesis of the amyloidogenic variants of TTR. LT can stop progression of the disease during its early stages. Symptomatic treatments are essential for sensorimotor and autonomic neuropathy and visceral complications.
FAP is a severe and disabling disease. Severe cardiac, renal and ocular manifestations may develop. Death occurs within a mean interval of 10.8 years after onset of the inaugural symptoms and may occur suddenly or may be secondary to infections or cachexia.
Familial amyloid polyneuropathies (FAPs) are a group of life-threatening multisystem disorders transmitted as an autosomal dominant trait. Nerve lesions are induced by deposits of amyloid fibrils, most commonly due to mutated transthyretin (TTR). Less often the precursor of amyloidosis is mutant apolipoprotein A-1 or gelsolin. The first identified cause of FAP-the TTR Val30Met mutation-is still the most common of more than 100 amyloidogenic point mutations identified worldwide. The penetrance and age at onset of FAP among people carrying the same mutation vary between countries. The symptomatology and clinical course of FAP can be highly variable. TTR FAP typically causes a nerve length-dependent polyneuropathy that starts in the feet with loss of temperature and pain sensations, along with life-threatening autonomic dysfunction leading to cachexia and death within 10 years on average. TTR is synthesised mainly in the liver, and liver transplantation seems to have a favourable effect on the course of neuropathy, but not on cardiac or eye lesions. Oral administration of tafamidis meglumine, which prevents misfolding and deposition of mutated TTR, is under evaluation in patients with TTR FAP. In future, patients with FAP might benefit from gene therapy; however, genetic counselling is recommended for the prevention of all types of FAP.
The course and prognostic factors of familial amyloid polyneuropathy after liver transplantation
David Adams, Didier Samuel, Catherine Goulon-Goeau, …, Henri Bismuth, Gérard Said
Familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP) associated with mutations of the transthyretin (TTR) gene is the most common type of FAP, a devastating disease causing death within 10 years after the first symptoms. Because most of the amyloidogenic mutated TTR is secreted by the liver, transplantation is widely used to treat these patients, but long-term quantitative evaluation of the effects of liver transplantation on the progression of the neuropathy are not available. We have treated 45 patients with symptomatic TTR-FAP, including 43 with the Met30 TTR gene mutation, and report on the results of periodic evaluation of markers of neuropathy in 25 of them, who have been followed for more than 2 years after liver transplantation (mean follow-up 4 years). The overall survival rates at 1 and 5 years were 82 and 60%, respectively. Urinary incontinence and a low Norris score at liver transplantation were associated with poorer outcome. The motor score stabilized in seven of 11 patients (64%) with mild sensorimotor neuropathy (walking unaided) and in two of the eight patients (25%) with severe sensorimotor deficit (walking with aid) at liver transplantation. In five other patients, deterioration of motor deficit occurred only within the first year after liver transplantation, but was progressive after this interval in two patients. None of the six patients with pure sensory neuropathy developed motor loss and superficial sensory loss remained unchanged. Two years after liver transplantation, the rate of myelinated axon loss in nerve biopsy specimens was markedly lower in seven transplanted patients (0.9/mm2 of endoneurial area/month) than in non-transplanted patients (70/mm2 of endoneurial area/month). Symptoms of dysautonomia and quantitated cardiocirculatory autonomic tests remained unchanged. In all patients, serum mutated TTR decreased to 2.5% of pre-liver transplantation values and remained at this level during follow-up. We presently recommend liver transplantation in FAP patients at onset of first symptoms and exclusion of those with a Norris score below 55 and/or with urinary incontinence.
Familial Amyloid Polyneuropathy (Amyloidotic transthyretin related neuropathy [ATTR]
Transthyretin (TTR) amyloidosis is an autosomal dominant disorder caused by the deposition of insoluble amyloid fibrils around peripheral nerves and in various tissues, including the heart muscle. Based on the predominant organ involvement, several distinct subtypes have been reported.
Familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP) aka TTR amyloid neuropathy is characterized by slowly progressive, peripheral sensorimotor polyneuropathy and autonomic dysfunction. Disease onset is usually in the third to fourth decade of life. Sensory neuropathy starts in the lower extremities with paresthesia, impaired pain and temperature sensation, followed by loss of motor function. Autonomic neuropathy usually manifests with orthostatic hypotension, constipation alternating with diarrhea, vomiting, impotence or hypohidrosis. Unrelated to neuropathy, other organs manifestations may include cardiomyopathy, vitreous opacities and CNS amyloidosis.
Leptomeningeal amyloidosis aka oculoleptomeningeal amyloidosis affects predominantly the central nervous system, sometimes combined with visual impairment.
Cardiac amyloidosis usually manifests in the sixth decade of life with progressive left ventricular hypertrophy and restrictive cardiomyopathy. In a subset of families with cardiac amyloidosis, peripheral neuropathy may be completely absent or very mild.
Treatment: Currently, the only effective treatment for FAP is an orthotopic liver transplant to stop production of misfolded amyloid protein. In patients with severe amyloid cardiomyopathy, a heart transplant may be necessary. Different drugs designed to prevent or alleviate accumulation of TTR amyloid protein (transthyretin amyloidois inhibitors) are currently under investigation.
The systemic amyloidoses are a family of diseases induced by misfolded or misassembled proteins. Extracellular deposition of these proteins as soluble or insoluble cross β-sheets disrupts vital organ function.1 More than 27 different precursor proteins have the propensity to form amyloid fibrils.2 The particular precursor protein that misfolds to form amyloid fibrils defines the amyloid type and predicts the patient’s clinical course. Several types of amyloid can infiltrate the heart, resulting in progressive diastolic and systolic dysfunction, congestive heart failure, and death. Treatment of cardiac amyloidosis is dictated by the amyloid type and degree of involvement. Consequently, early recognition and accurate classification are essential.3
The diagnosis of amyloidosis requires histological identification of amyloid deposits. Congo Red staining renders amyloid deposits salmon pink by light microscopy, with a characteristic apple green birefringence under polarized light conditions (Figure 1). Additional immunohistochemical staining for precursor proteins identifies the type of amyloidosis (Figure 2).4 Ultimately, immunogold electron microscopy and mass spectrometry confer the greatest sensitivity and specificity for amyloid typing.5,6
Transthyretin participates in beta-amyloid transport from the brain to the liver- involvement of the low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1?
Transthyretin (TTR) binds Aβ peptide, preventing its deposition and toxicity. TTR is decreased in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients. Additionally, AD transgenic mice with only one copy of the TTR gene show increased brain and plasma Aβ levels when compared to AD mice with both copies of the gene, suggesting TTR involvement in brain Aβ efflux and/or peripheral clearance. Here we showed that TTR promotes Aβ internalization and efflux in a human cerebral microvascular endothelial cell line, hCMEC/D3. TTR also stimulated brain-to-blood but not blood-to-brain Aβ permeability in hCMEC/D3, suggesting that TTR interacts directly with Aβ at the blood-brain-barrier. We also observed that TTR crosses the monolayer of cells only in the brain-to-blood direction, as confirmed by in vivo studies, suggesting that TTR can transport Aβ from, but not into the brain. Furthermore, TTR increased Aβ internalization by SAHep cells and by primary hepatocytes from TTR+/+ mice when compared to TTR−/− animals. We propose that TTR-mediated Aβ clearance is through LRP1, as lower receptor expression was found in brains and livers of TTR−/− mice and in cells incubated without TTR. Our results suggest that TTR acts as a carrier of Aβ at the blood-brain-barrier and liver, using LRP1.
Transthyretin (Prealbumin) in Health and Disease: Nutritional Implications
Annual Review of Nutrition
Vol. 14: 495-533 (Volume publication date July 1994)
DOI: 10.1146/annurev.nu.14.070194.002431
Y Ingenbleek, and V Young
Plasma Transthyretin as a Biomarker of Lean Body Mass and Catabolic States1,2
Plasma transthyretin (TTR) is a plasma protein secreted by the liver that circulates bound to retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) and its retinol ligand. TTR is the sole plasma protein that reveals from birth to old age evolutionary patterns that are closely superimposable to those of lean body mass (LBM) and thus works as the best surrogate analyte of LBM. Any alteration in energy-to-protein balance impairs the accretion of LBM reserves and causes early depression of TTR production. In acute inflammatory states, cytokines induce urinary leakage of nitrogenous catabolites, deplete LBM stores, and cause an abrupt decrease in TTR and RBP4 concentrations. As a result, thyroxine and retinol ligands are released in free form, creating a second frontline that strengthens that primarily initiated by cytokines. Malnutrition and inflammation thus keep in check TTR and RBP4 secretion by using distinct and unrelated physiologic pathways, but they operate in concert to downregulate LBM stores. The biomarker complex integrates these opposite mechanisms at any time and thereby constitutes an ideally suited tool to determine residual LBM resources still available for metabolic responses, hence predicting outcomes of the most interwoven disease conditions.
Evaluating the binding selectivity of transthyretin amyloid fibril inhibitors in blood plasma
Hans E. Purkey, Michael I. Dorrell, and Jeffery W. Kelly*
Department of Chemistry and The Skaggs Institute of Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, MB12, La Jolla, CA 92037 http://www.pnas.org/content/98/10/5566.full.pdf
Transthyretin (TTR) tetramer dissociation and misfolding facilitate assembly into amyloid fibrils that putatively cause senile systemic amyloidosis and familial amyloid polyneuropathy. We have previously discovered more than 50 small molecules that bind to and stabilize tetrameric TTR, inhibiting amyloid fibril formation in vitro. A method is presented here to evaluate the binding selectivity of these inhibitors to TTR in human plasma, a complex biological fluid composed of more than 60 proteins and numerous small molecules. Our immunoprecipitation approach isolates TTR and bound small molecules from a biological fluid such as plasma, and quantifies the amount of small molecules bound to the protein by HPLC analysis. This approach demonstrates that only a small subset of the inhibitors that saturate the TTR binding sites in vitro do so in plasma. These selective inhibitors can now be tested in animal models of TTR amyloid disease to probe the validity of the amyloid hypothesis. This method could be easily extended to evaluate small molecule binding selectivity to any protein in a given biological fluid without the necessity of determining or guessing which other protein components may be competitors. This is a central issue to understanding the distribution, metabolism, activity, and toxicity of potential drugs.
Amyloid diseases are characterized by the conversion of soluble proteins or peptides into insoluble b-sheet-rich amyloid fibrils. There are currently 17 different human proteins known to form amyloid fibrils in vivo (1–4). These fibrils, or their oligomeric precursors, are thought to cause pathology either through disruption of normal cellular function or by direct toxicity (5–8). X-ray fibril diffraction and electron microscopy reconstruction of amyloid fibrils reveal filaments that have a lamellar cross b-sheet structure wrapped around one another (9–13). Folded proteins form amyloid fibrils through partial unfolding triggered by a change of local environment, a mutation in the protein, or both (8, 14–20).
Transthyretin (TTR) is a tetrameric protein composed of identical 127-aa subunits that fold into a b-sandwich tertiary structure. It is found in both the plasma (3.6 mM) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) (0.36 mM) of humans. The TTR tetramer has two negatively cooperative C2 symmetric thyroxine (T4)-binding sites (21–23). In the CSF, it binds and transports the thyroid hormone T4 and the retinol-binding protein (RBP), which in turn transports vitamin A. In the plasma, only 10–15% of TTR has T4 bound to it, as thyroid-binding globulin has an order of magnitude higher affinity for T4 than does TTR (24). TTR fibril formation is linked to two amyloid diseases in which the fibrils are composed of full-length protein. Deposition of wild-type TTR is associated with cardiac dysfunction in the disease senile systemic amyloidosis (SSA) (25, 26). More than 70 different single-site mutants have been linked to early-onset amyloid deposition in diseases with a spectrum of clinical manifestations, collectively referred to as familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP) (27–35).
We have discovered compounds, through both screening and structure-based design, that dramatically inhibit TTR amyloid fibril formation in vitro (36–42). To stabilize the TTR tetramer and thus prevent amyloid fibril formation in SSA and FAP, these small molecules must be able to selectively bind to TTR in human blood plasma over all other plasma proteins. Possible competitors include thyroid-binding globulin (TBG), which has an order of magnitude higher affinity for TTR’s natural ligand, T4; and albumin, which binds numerous hydrophobic small molecules and is present at a concentration two orders of magnitude higher than TTR, as well as the other plasma proteins. Historically, one was forced to choose two or three of the most likely protein competitors and evaluate their relative affinities for the small molecule in comparison to the protein of interest. The advantage of the approach outlined within this article is that the binding selectivity of TTR amyloid inhibitors in human plasma is determined without having to make assumptions as to which proteins may competitively bind the TTR ligand. Compounds that bind to TTR selectively in plasma are the best candidates for further evaluation in animal models and, ultimately, in human clinical trials.
Analysis of Nonsteroidal Antiinflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs)
The first compounds evaluated for selective binding to TTR in plasma were the NSAIDs previously identified to be potent TTR amyloid inhibitors in vitro (37, 42). Because these compounds are already approved by the Food and Drug Administration, they could easily be evaluated in human clinical trials for another indication if they proved to be selective TTR binders in human plasma. However, none of the NSAIDs exhibited significant selectivity for binding TTR in human plasma at a concentration of 10.8 mM (Table 1), although most exhibit a submicromolar Kd (37, 50). The most selective NSAIDs, flufenamic acid (1) and mefenamic acid (2), only had 0.2 eq of a maximum of 2 molar eq bound to TTR. However, fenoprofen (7), flurbiprofen (6), flufenamic acid (1), mefenamic acid (2), and diflunisal (4) all have maximal therapeutic plasma concentrations exceeding 20 mM (51, 52). When these compounds were incubated with plasma at their maximal therapeutic concentrations, flufenamic acid and diflunisal showed increased binding selectivity (stoichiometry) to TTR (Table 1). Diflunisal (4) is notable in that its 224 mM maximal therapeutic concentration leads to 0.85 eq of drug bound to TTR. Increasing the concentration of all other NSAIDs to their maximal therapeutic dose did not result in dramatic increases in binding selectivity, likely because of binding to other plasma proteins.
Analysis of the Remaining Lead Compounds. Approximately 40 additional small molecule amyloid inhibitors were evaluated for their ability to bind to TTR in plasma by using our immunoprecipitationyHPLC approach (Fig. 2). These compounds were derived from screening or structure-based design and identified as promising by an in vitro fibril formation assay (refs. 40–42; V. H. Oza, H. M. Petrassi, and J.W.K., unpublished data). Lead compounds having diverse structures including biaryls, biarylamines, stilbenes, and dibenzofurans showed promising selectivity (Table 2). Three compounds from this group (9-11) possess excellent TTR-binding selectivity in plasma. At a concentration of 10.8 mM, they exhibit saturation of .1 of the two possible binding sites in the TTR tetramer. Determination of the TTR-binding affinities of these three compounds in buffer shows that the Kd values do not correlate with the plasma binding selectivity (Table 2). For example, inhibitors 9 and 10 have greater than an order of magnitude difference in Kd but nearly identical binding selectivity (stoichiometry) to TTR in plasma. Moreover, compounds with modest binding selectivity, such as flufenamic acid (1), have been previously determined to have Kd values very similar to those exhibiting excellent selectivities (37). Mass spectrometry confirmed the identity of inhibitors 9-12 isolated by immunoprecipitation HPLC as the compounds that were initially incubated with plasma.
Binding to plasma proteins is an important factor in determining the overall distribution, metabolism, activity, and toxicity of a drug (55). In this particular case, we desire small molecules that bind to the plasma protein TTR over protein competitors whose identities are not known and likely change with the small molecule under evaluation. This binding is known to stabilize TTR’s normally folded state, thus preventing the conformational changes required for amyloidogenicity (14, 36). The immunoprecipitationyHPLCbased binding selectivity method outlined above allows quantification of the stoichiometry of small molecule binding to TTR in human plasma in the presence of all other plasma proteins and numerous competing small molecules without the use of tags, such as radiolabels, on the small molecule. Immunoprecipitation has been used previously to determine the stoichiometry of metal ion binding to specific plasma proteins (56, 57). However, to our knowledge, this is the first use of the technique to determine the binding selectivity of a small molecule to a single protein in human plasma. In principle, this approach is applicable to evaluate the binding selectivity of small molecules to any plasma protein, provided that a highly selective antibody for the protein can be generated, binding does not block the epitope or destroy it by conformational change, and appropriate wash steps can be introduced to avoid nonspecific binding of the small molecule and other proteins to the resin.
The Kelly Group Research
Transthyretin amyloid diseases: understanding the mechanism of proteotoxicity and inhibition of amyloid fibril formation
Figure 1: Three dimensional structure of the flufenamic acid-transthyretin tetramer complex. The small organic molecule, flufenamic acid, inhibits the conformational changes of transthyretin associated with amyloid fibril formation. Courtesy of Steven Johnson.
Transthyretin is a 55 kDa homotetrameric protein (Figure 1) that transports L-thyroxine and holo-retinol binding protein in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid of humans. We discovered that conformational changes alone enable transthyretin aggregation. Transthyretin amyloid formation in vivo is initiated by dissociation of the native tetramer under a denaturation stress of unknown origin. Subsequently, the resulting monomers can partially denature and misassemble into amyloid fibrils and other amorphous aggregates. Aggregation by transthyretin monomers under acidic conditions (conditions that render transthyretin amyloidogenesis fast on a laboratory time scale) occurs via a downhill polymerization mechanism, which means that every step along the amyloid formation pathway is energetically favorable and fast relative to tetramer dissociation. Thus, tetramer dissociation is rate limiting for transthyretin amyloid formation in the case of the wild type protein and for the vast majority of mutants.
Stabilizing the native tetrameric state of transthyretin should ameliorate transthyretin amyloid diseases. This hypothesis is supported by the observation of trans-suppression, in which compound heterozygotes expressing both a disease-associated mutation (e.g., V30M) and a trans-suppressor mutation (e.g., T119M) do not develop transthyretin amyloid disease. We have shown that the trans-suppressor mutation T119M inhibits amyloid formation by kinetically stabilizing (i.e., dramatically slowing the dissociation of) mixed transthyretin tetramers.
We have designed numerous small molecules based on the crystal structures of transthyretin that are now established to avidly bind to the unoccupied L-thyroxine binding sites within transthyretin. We have shown that small molecule binding to these sites inhibits amyloid formation in vitro by selectively stabilizing the native tetrameric state over the dissociative transition state, thus raising the energetic barrier for tetramer dissociation, dramatically slowing the rate-limiting step in the aggregation pathway. Over the past decade, we have identified and synthesized over 1000 small molecule inhibitors of transthyretin amyloid formation that group into half a dozen distinct families. The inhibitors are typically composed of two differentially-substituted aromatic rings connected by linkers of variable chemical composition.
These small molecule kinetic stabilizers either just bind to transthyretin or bind and then react chemoselectively with only one of eight lysine ε-amino groups within transthyretin. In collaboration with Dr. Ian Wilson (The Scripps Research Institute, Department of Molecular Biology), we systematically ranked a myriad of possibilities for the three substructures composing a typical transthyretin kinetic stabilizer. We used these data in a substructure combination strategy to develop very potent and selective transthyretin kinetic stabilizers. In collaboration with Dr. Joel Buxbaum (The Scripps Research Institute, Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine), these and other compounds are being tested in cell and mouse models.
These data should allow us to be able to predict the structures of potent and selective transthyretin amyloidogenesis inhibitors that are largely devoid of characteristics undesirable for a clinical candidate.
In a recently completed placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial carried out by FoldRx Pharmaceuticals (a company that Kelly cofounded), benzoxazoles discovered by the Kelly Laboratory and developed by FoldRx Pharmaceuticals proved safe and effective at halting the progression of familial amyloid polyneuropathy by a myriad of metrics. This transthyretin kinetic stabilizer, now named Tafamidis, provides the first pharmacological evidence that the process of amyloid fibril formation causes the transthyretin amyloid diseases—reinvigorating efforts of other investigators and companies to do the same in other amyloid diseases. In collaboration with Dr. Martha Skinner and Dr. John Berk at Boston University, another kinetic stabilizer discovered by the Kelly Laboratory, diflunisal, is being tested in a second placebo-controlled human clinical trial for familial amyloid polyneuropathy that is currently enrolling patients.
In collaboration with Dr. Bill Balch (The Scripps Research Institute, Department of Cell Biology) and Dr. Luke Wiseman (The Scripps Research Institute, Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine), we investigated the relationship between the secretion of destabilized transthyretin variants and the pathology of the disease they cause. The earliest onset (onset at 20-30 years of age) and most severe transthyretin amyloid diseases are generally associated with mutations that strongly destabilize the transthyretin tetramer, resulting in facile transthyretin dissociation and misfolded monomer misassembly into aggregates in the peripheral nerves. However, the most destabilized variants characterized to date, A25T and D18G transthyretin, do not cause an early onset systemic amyloid disease because they are intercepted by the degradation component of the proteostasis network within liver cells—the liver is where most of the transthyretin in the blood plasma is produced. Because of endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation of these highly destabilized transthyretin variants within the secretory pathway of liver cells, the concentration of the destabilized mutant transthyretin in blood plasma would not be high enough to enable the amyloidogenesis responsible for pathology. Interestingly, these mutants lead to a very rare brain disease, with an intermediate age of onset (40-50 years old), because the choroid plexus is more permissive in its ability to secrete highly destabilized transthyretin variants for reasons that we are seeking to understand. These results suggest that endoplasmic reticulum-assisted folding mediated by the proteostasis network determines protein secretion in a tissue-specific manner, and we propose that its competition with endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation may explain the appearance of tissue-selective amyloid diseases.
Is there a CRISPR alternative?
CRISPR biotech Intellia strikes licensing deal with Regeneron, readies IPO
Intellia Therapeutics, one of several companies working to develop CRISPR/Cas 9 technology commercially, on Monday filed to go public in an initially priced $120 million IPO. Concurrently, the biotech announced a collaboration and licensing deal with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals aimed at advancing up to 10 CRISPR-based programs, focusing primarily on liver diseases.
Regeneron will pay Intellia $75 million upfront, as well as investing $50 million in Intellia’s forthcoming IPO. Additionally, the agreement includes as much as $320 million in milestone payments, according to SEC filing documents.
The first program to be co-developed with Regeneron will target a rare genetic disorder known as ATTR, which can causes severely impaired nerve or cardiac function.
Intellia hopes CRISPR gene-editing can cure the genetic disorder ATTR, which is caused by a buildup of the transthyretin (TTR) protein in tissue. By “knocking out” TTR expression in the liver, Intellia could reduce or eliminate the disease-causing buildup.
A view by Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP
I can only wish them success in a project that may well be a search for the Trojan Horse. TTR is also synthesized in the choroid plexus. In addition, knocking out TTR expression in the liver is not likely to fit a mechanism leading to TTR buildup in tissue. The TTR is a plasma tetrameric transport protein released into the circulation for transport of TH with a bound retinol-binding protein carrying one retinol per tetrameric protein. Other considerations are the nuclear release and the cell binding that have been extensively studied. The buildup in tissues is a misfolded protein – amyloid, which has extensively studied fibrils. Another issue is the actual functional transport of hormone and delivery of retinoid to cross the blood brain barrier.
Transthyretin participates in betaamyloid transport from the brain to the liver- involvement of the lowdensity lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1?
The thyroid hormone binding protein transthyretin (TTR) forms a macromolecular complex with the retinol-specific carrier retinol binding protein (RBP) in the blood of higher vertebrates. Piscine TTR is shown here to exhibit high binding affnity for L-thyroxine and negligible affnity for RBP. The 1.56 A % resolution X-ray structure of sea bream TTR, compared with that of human TTR, reveals a high degree of conservation of the thyroid hormone binding sites. In contrast, some amino acid differences in discrete regions of sea bream TTR appear to be responsible for the lack of protein-protein recognition, providing evidence for the crucial role played by a limited number of residues in the interaction between RBP and TTR. Overall, this study makes it possible to draw conclusions on evolutionary relationships for RBPs and TTRs of phylogenetically distant vertebrates.
Jeffery Kelly, Ph.D., Lita Annenberg Hazen Professor of Chemistry
Chairman, Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine
California Campus, Scripps Institute
The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology
San Diego, CA
Studies directed at understanding the principles of b-sheet folding utilizing rapid kinetic and thermodynamic measurements are ongoing and focused on the WW domain, a 34-residue 3-stranded b-sheet. Chemical synthesis of the WW domain allows us to incorporate unique amino acids into the fold to probe structural determinants of transition state and ground state structure.
Awards & Professional Activities
Searle Scholar Award in Biomedical Sciences, 1991-1994
Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher Scholar Award, 1994
Texas A&M University Teacher Scholar Award, 1994-1995
The Biophysical Society National Lecturer, 1999
The Protein Society – Dupont Young Investigator Award, 1999
Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award, State University of New York at Fredonia, 2000
Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, American Chemical Society, 2001
Selected References
Deechongkit, S.; Nguyen, H.; Dawson, P.E.; Gruebele, M.; Kelly, J.W. “Context Dependent Contributions of Backbone H-Bonding to b-Sheet Folding Energetics” Nature 2004, 430, 101-105.
Cohen,F.: Kelly, J.W. “Therapeutic Approaches to Protein Folding Diseases” Nature, 2003, 426, 905-910.
Hammarstrom, P.; Wiseman, R.L.; Powers, E.T.; Kelly, J.W., “Prevention of Transthyretin Amyloid Disease by Changing Protein Misfolding Energetics” Science 2003, 299, 713-716.
Sawkar, A.; Cheng, W-C.; Beutler, E.; Wong, C.-H.; Balch, W.E.; Kelly, J.W. “Chemical Chaperones Increase the Cellular Activity of N370S β glucosidase; A Therapeutic Strategy for Gaucher’s Disease” Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci., 2002, 99, 15428-15433.
Efficacy and Tolerability of PCSK9 Inhibitors by Patients with Muscle-related Statin Intolerance – New Cleveland Clinic study published in JAMA 4/2016
Curators: Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP and Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Medical Interpretation of Study Results and the Pharmacological Treatment Context of PCSK9 Inhibitors
Author: Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP
The Rausse-3 Clinical Trial accompanied by editorial has been published in the Apr 3, 2016 issue of JAMA comparing toleration to and efficacy of Evolocumab vs Ezetimibe in patients with Statin-related muscle intolerance.
Efficacy and Tolerability of Evolocumab vs Ezetimibe in Patients With Muscle-Related Statin Intolerance – The GAUSS-3 Randomized Clinical Trial. SE Nissen, E Stroes, RE Dent-Acosta, et al. JAMA Apr 3, 2016 http://dx.doi.org:10.1001/jama.2016.3608
The very long-term outcomes reported for early statin primary prevention trials17,18are impressive. The Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial (ASCOT) randomized patients with hypertension and multiple risk factors to receive atorvastatin (10 mg daily) or to placebo and was stopped after a median follow-up of 3.3 years because of benefit.17 Approximately 8 years later, 11 years after randomization, total mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and noncardiovascular mortality were all significantly reduced in patients who had been in the statin group. Among patients with statin intolerance related to muscle-related adverse effects, the use of evolocumab compared with ezetimibe resulted in a significantly greater reduction in LDL-C levels after 24 weeks. Whether PCSK9 inhibitors will have the same impressive long-term outcomes will not be known for many years.
Importance Muscle-related statin intolerance is reported by 5% to 20% of patients.
Objective To identify patients with muscle symptoms confirmed by statin rechallenge and compare lipid-lowering efficacy for 2 nonstatin therapies, ezetimibe and evolocumab.
Design, Setting, and Participants Two-stage randomized clinical trial including 511 adult patients with uncontrolled low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels and history of intolerance to 2 or more statins enrolled in 2013 and 2014 globally. Phase A used a 24-week crossover procedure with atorvastatin or placebo to identify patients having symptoms only with atorvastatin but not placebo. In phase B, after a 2-week washout, patients were randomized to ezetimibe or evolocumab for 24 weeks.
Interventions Phase A: atorvastatin (20 mg) vs placebo. Phase B: randomization 2:1 to subcutaneous evolocumab (420 mg monthly) or oral ezetimibe (10 mg daily).
Main Outcome and Measures Coprimary end points were the mean percent change in LDL-C level from baseline to the mean of weeks 22 and 24 levels and from baseline to week 24 levels.
Results Of the 491 patients who entered phase A (mean age, 60.7 [SD, 10.2] years; 246 women [50.1%]; 170 with coronary heart disease [34.6%]; entry mean LDL-C level, 212.3 [SD, 67.9] mg/dL), muscle symptoms occurred in 209 of 491 (42.6%) while taking atorvastatin but not while taking placebo. Of these, 199 entered phase B, along with 19 who proceeded directly to phase B for elevated creatine kinase (N = 218, with 73 randomized to ezetimibe and 145 to evolocumab; entry mean LDL-C level, 219.9 [SD, 72] mg/dL). For the mean of weeks 22 and 24, LDL-C level with ezetimibe was 183.0 mg/dL; mean percent LDL-C change, −16.7% (95% CI, −20.5% to −12.9%), absolute change, −31.0 mg/dL and with evolocumab was 103.6 mg/dL; mean percent change, −54.5% (95% CI, −57.2% to −51.8%); absolute change, −106.8 mg/dL (P < .001). LDL-C level at week 24 with ezetimibe was 181.5 mg/dL; mean percent change, −16.7% (95% CI, −20.8% to −12.5%); absolute change, −31.2 mg/dL and with evolocumab was 104.1 mg/dL; mean percent change, −52.8% (95% CI, −55.8% to −49.8%); absolute change, −102.9 mg/dL (P < .001). For the mean of weeks 22 and 24, between-group difference in LDL-C was −37.8%; absolute difference, −75.8 mg/dL. For week 24, between-group difference in LDL-C was −36.1%; absolute difference, –71.7 mg/dL. Muscle symptoms were reported in 28.8% of ezetimibe-treated patients and 20.7% of evolocumab-treated patients (log-rank P = .17). Active study drug was stopped for muscle symptoms in 5 of 73 ezetimibe-treated patients (6.8%) and 1 of 145 evolocumab-treated patients (0.7%).
Conclusions and Relevance Among patients with statin intolerance related to muscle-related adverse effects, the use of evolocumab compared with ezetimibe resulted in a significantly greater reduction in LDL-C levels after 24 weeks. Further studies are needed to assess long-term efficacy and safety.
Administration of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) to reduce levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) represents an essential component of contemporary strategies to reduce morbidity and mortality from atherosclerotic vascular disease.1 However, a significant proportion of patients with clinical indications for statin treatment report inability to tolerate evidence-based doses, most commonly because of muscle-related adverse effects.2 These patients typically report muscle pain or weakness when treatment is initiated or dosage increased and relief when the drug is discontinued or the dosage reduced. Although some patients with statin-associated muscle symptoms experience marked elevation in serum creatine kinase (CK) levels, most do not. Accordingly, diagnosis of this disorder remains largely subjective, based on the presence of patient-reported symptoms.3The incidence of similar symptoms in placebo-treated patients has resulted in skepticism about the true incidence of statin intolerance.
Patients with muscle-related intolerance often refuse to take statins despite elevated LDL-C levels and a high risk of major cardiovascular events. Current management may include very low or intermittent administration of statins or use of ezetimibe, but these strategies seldom achieve the greater than 50% reduction recommended by current guidelines.1,4,5 Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors markedly lower LDL-C levels and have shown potential as an alternative therapy for patients who experience intolerable adverse effects during statin therapy.6– 8 Currently available data suggest that muscle-related adverse effects are uncommon with PCSK9 inhibitors, even in patients with a history of such symptoms, but prior trials relied exclusively on medical history to document statin intolerance.
The GAUSS-3 (Goal Achievement After Utilizing an Anti-PCSK9 Antibody in Statin Intolerant Subjects 3) trial was designed as a 2-stage randomized clinical trial to first identify patients with statin-induced muscle symptoms during a placebo-controlled statin rechallenge procedure and subsequently to compare the effectiveness and tolerability of 2 nonstatin therapies—ezetimibe or evolocumab, a recently approved PCSK9 inhibitor.
Figure 2.
Time to First Occurrence of a Muscle-Related Adverse Effect Resulting in Discontinuation of Study Drug During Period 1 and Period 2 of Phase A, GAUSS-3 Trial
Atorvastatin dose, 20 mg daily; placebo indicates matching placebo. GAUSS-3 indicates Goal Achievement After Utilizing an Anti-PCSK9 Antibody in Statin Intolerant Subjects 3
The two curves compare phase 1 versus phase 2 with the first showing a separation at about day 60 and the second at about day 18. The hazard ratios are 1.34 vs 1.96 for cumulative event probability with p < 0.02 vs 0.001.
Lipid values at week 22 and week 24 during phase B are reported in the eTable in Supplement 3; the effect of ezetimibe and evolocumab on LDL-C levels during phase B is displayed graphically in Figure 3.
For the first coprimary end point, LDL-C level for the mean of weeks 22 and 24 was 183.0 mg/dL (95% CI, 167.4 to 198.6; least-squares mean percent change from baseline, −16.7% [95% CI, −20.5% to −12.9%]) for ezetimibe and 103.6 mg/dL (95% CI, 92.5 to 114.8; mean percent change, −54.5% [95% CI, −57.2% to −51.8%]) for evolocumab)—a mean difference of −37.8% (95% CI, −42.3% to −33.3%) (P < .001). For the other coprimary end point, LDL-C level at week 24 was 181.5 mg/dL (95% CI, 164.9 to 198.0; least-squares mean percent change from baseline, −16.7% [95% CI, −20.8% to −12.5%]) for ezetimibe and 104.1 mg/dL (95% CI, 92.4 to 115.7; mean percent change, −52.8% [95% CI, −55.8% to −49.8%]) for evolocumab—a mean difference of −36.1% (95% CI, –41.1% to –31.1%) (P < .001).
Figure 3.
Mean Percent Change in Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Level During Randomized Treatment With Ezetimibe or Evolocumab, GAUSS-3 Trial
Ezetimibe dose, 10 mg daily; evolocumab dose, 140 mg 3 times monthly (420 mg total dosage). GAUSS-3 indicates Goal Achievement After Utilizing an Anti-PCSK9 Antibody in Statin Intolerant Subjects 3. Error bars indicate 95% CIs.
The first cosecondary end point, absolute change in LDL-C level for the mean of weeks 22 and 24, showed a least-squares mean change of −31.0 mg/dL (95% CI, −38.4 to −23.5) for ezetimibe and −106.8 mg/dL (95% CI, −112.2 to −101.4) for evolocumab—a mean difference of −75.8 mg/dL (95% CI, −84.7 to −67.0) (P < .001). The other cosecondary end point, absolute change in LDL-C level at week 24, showed a least-squares mean change of −31.2 mg/dL (95% CI, −39.2 to −23.3) for ezetimibe and −102.9 mg/dL (95% CI, −108.7 to −97.2) for evolocumab—a mean difference of −71.7 mg/dL (95% CI, −81.3 to −62.2) (P < .001).
Statin intolerance related to muscle symptoms represents a major unresolved challenge to the delivery of optimal cardiovascular care. The reported incidence of statin-associated muscle symptoms in observational studies ranges from 5% to 29% of treated patients, varying by statin and dose.2 Often, despite multiple attempts to find a statin regimen acceptable to the patient, practitioners resort to less effective therapies. Alternative approaches typically include use of ezetimibe or administration of statins intermittently or at dosages below the approved starting dose.4,5,12 These alternative therapeutic strategies provide less LDL-C reduction than recommended by current practice guidelines and result in higher LDL-C levels than most practitioners consider acceptable for optimal reduction of cardiovascular risk.
Both coprimary end points showed a 16.7% reduction with ezetimibe and a more than 50% reduction with evolocumab. These reductions in LDL-C levels are consistent with current labeling for both products. Despite very high baseline values, the LDL-C goal of less than 70 mg/dL was achieved in nearly 30% of evolocumab-treated patients and 1.4% of ezetimibe-treated patients (Table 3). The LDL-C reduction for both drugs was stable by 4 weeks and sustained during the course of the 24 weeks of treatment (Figure 3).
Because some patients cannot tolerate statins, the need for alternative LDL-C–lowering strategies in such patients is self-evident. Previous trials have suggested that PCSK9 inhibitors are effective at lowering LDL-C levels and well tolerated by patients with a history of statin-associated muscle symptoms.6– 8 The studies did not use a placebo-controlled statin rechallenge procedure to identify the presence of statin intolerance.
To our knowledge, the GAUSS-3 trial represents the largest and most comprehensive study using a blinded rechallenge procedure to assess the ability of patients with a history of muscle-related adverse effects to tolerate statins. The trial provides insights into the time course of statin-associated muscle-related adverse effects. As shown in Figure 2A, initial randomization to either atorvastatin or placebo in phase A resulted in similar rates of muscle symptoms during the first 50 days, with a modest increase in occurrence with atorvastatin near the end of the 10-week exposure (HR, 1.34 [95% CI, 1.05 to 1.71]; P = .02). After crossover to period 2, larger numbers of patients experienced symptoms in the atorvastatin treatment group, with differences in event rates occurring relatively early (HR, 1.96 [95% CI, 1.44 to 2.66]; P < .001) (Figure 2B).
1
Stone NJ, Robinson JG, Lichtenstein AH, et al; American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines. 2013 ACC/AHA guideline on the treatment of blood cholesterol to reduce atherosclerotic cardiovascular risk in adults: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2014;63(25, pt B):2889-2934.
PubMed | Link to Article
2
Stroes ES, Thompson PD, Corsini A, et al; European Atherosclerosis Society Consensus Panel. Statin-associated muscle symptoms: impact on statin therapy—European Atherosclerosis Society Consensus Panel Statement on Assessment, Aetiology and Management. Eur Heart J. 2015;36(17):1012-1022.
PubMed | Link to Article
3
Zhang H, Plutzky J, Skentzos S, et al. Discontinuation of statins in routine care settings: a cohort study. Ann Intern Med. 2013;158(7):526-534.
PubMed | Link to Article
4
Baigent C, Blackwell L, Emberson J, et al; Cholesterol Treatment Trialists’ (CTT) Collaboration. Efficacy and safety of more intensive lowering of LDL cholesterol: a meta-analysis of data from 170,000 participants in 26 randomised trials. Lancet. 2010;376(9753):1670-1681.
PubMed | Link to Article
Original Investigation|April 03, 2016
Efficacy and Tolerability of Evolocumab vs Ezetimibe in Patients With Muscle-Related Statin IntoleranceThe GAUSS-3 Randomized Clinical TrialFREEONLINE FIRST
Steven E. Nissen, MD1; Erik Stroes, MD, PhD2; Ricardo E. Dent-Acosta, MD3; Robert S. Rosenson, MD4; Sam J. Lehman, MBBS, PhD5; Naveed Sattar, MD, PhD6; David Preiss, MD7,8; Eric Bruckert, MD9; Richard Češka, MD10,11; Norman Lepor, MD12; Christie M. Ballantyne, MD13; Ioanna Gouni-Berthold, MD14; Mary Elliott, MS3; Danielle M. Brennan, MS1; Scott M. Wasserman, MD3; Ransi Somaratne, MD, MBA3; Rob Scott, MD3; Evan A. Stein, MD, PhD15; for the GAUSS-3 Investigators
1Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio 2University of Amsterdam Faculty of Medicine, Amsterdam, the Netherlands 3Amgen Inc, Thousand Oaks, California 4School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York 5Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA, Australia 6University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom 7Clinical Trial Service Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom 8Epidemiological Services Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom 9University Hospital of Paris 6, Paris, France 10Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic 11General University Hospital in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic 12David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles 13Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 14Center for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Preventive Medicine, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany 15Metabolic and Atherosclerosis Research Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
JAMA. Published online April 03, 2016. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.3608
Importance Muscle-related statin intolerance is reported by 5% to 20% of patients.
Objective To identify patients with muscle symptoms confirmed by statin rechallenge and compare lipid-lowering efficacy for 2 nonstatin therapies, ezetimibe and evolocumab.
Design, Setting, and Participants Two-stage randomized clinical trial including 511 adult patients with uncontrolled low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels and history of intolerance to 2 or more statins enrolled in 2013 and 2014 globally. Phase A used a 24-week crossover procedure with atorvastatin or placebo to identify patients having symptoms only with atorvastatin but not placebo. In phase B, after a 2-week washout, patients were randomized to ezetimibe or evolocumab for 24 weeks.
Interventions Phase A: atorvastatin (20 mg) vs placebo. Phase B: randomization 2:1 to subcutaneous evolocumab (420 mg monthly) or oral ezetimibe (10 mg daily).
Main Outcome and Measures Coprimary end points were the mean percent change in LDL-C level from baseline to the mean of weeks 22 and 24 levels and from baseline to week 24 levels.
Results Of the 491 patients who entered phase A (mean age, 60.7 [SD, 10.2] years; 246 women [50.1%]; 170 with coronary heart disease [34.6%]; entry mean LDL-C level, 212.3 [SD, 67.9] mg/dL), muscle symptoms occurred in 209 of 491 (42.6%) while taking atorvastatin but not while taking placebo. Of these, 199 entered phase B, along with 19 who proceeded directly to phase B for elevated creatine kinase (N = 218, with 73 randomized to ezetimibe and 145 to evolocumab; entry mean LDL-C level, 219.9 [SD, 72] mg/dL). For the mean of weeks 22 and 24, LDL-C level with ezetimibe was 183.0 mg/dL; mean percent LDL-C change, −16.7% (95% CI, −20.5% to −12.9%), absolute change, −31.0 mg/dL and with evolocumab was 103.6 mg/dL; mean percent change, −54.5% (95% CI, −57.2% to −51.8%); absolute change, −106.8 mg/dL (P < .001). LDL-C level at week 24 with ezetimibe was 181.5 mg/dL; mean percent change, −16.7% (95% CI, −20.8% to −12.5%); absolute change, −31.2 mg/dL and with evolocumab was 104.1 mg/dL; mean percent change, −52.8% (95% CI, −55.8% to −49.8%); absolute change, −102.9 mg/dL (P < .001). For the mean of weeks 22 and 24, between-group difference in LDL-C was −37.8%; absolute difference, −75.8 mg/dL. For week 24, between-group difference in LDL-C was −36.1%; absolute difference, –71.7 mg/dL. Muscle symptoms were reported in 28.8% of ezetimibe-treated patients and 20.7% of evolocumab-treated patients (log-rank P = .17). Active study drug was stopped for muscle symptoms in 5 of 73 ezetimibe-treated patients (6.8%) and 1 of 145 evolocumab-treated patients (0.7%).
Conclusions and Relevance Among patients with statin intolerance related to muscle-related adverse effects, the use of evolocumab compared with ezetimibe resulted in a significantly greater reduction in LDL-C levels after 24 weeks. Further studies are needed to assess long-term efficacy and safety.
Newly released trial data from Eli Lilly’s 12,000-patient study on its cholesterol drug evacetrapib showed no clinical benefit in reducing rates of heart attack, stroke, or cardiovascular disease, despite seemingly positive effects on lipid levels, the New York Times reports.
Presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology, the data gave further insight into why Eli Lilly abruptly halted the phase 3 trial in October 2015. At the time, Lilly said there was a low probability the study’s primary endpoint would be reached.
Evacetrapib is one version of a class of cholesterol drugs known as CTEP inhibitors, which work by boosting the levels of HDL cholesterol, or “good” cholesterol. Two other CTEP inhibitors have failed while one, being developed by Merck, is still being studied.
While Lilly’s announcement in October dashed hopes for evacetrapib, the newly announced full data only adds to the puzzle. The 12,000 patients studied were randomized and put into either a evacetrapib group or a placebo group. Average HDL levels of those on evacetrapib rose by about 130% while LDL, or “bad” cholesterol, levels fell by about 35%.
But these results did not translate into any meaningful clinical benefit. Rates of heart attack, stroke, and death from cardiovascular disease (CVD) were nearly identical in both groups, according to the New York Times.
CTEP inhibitors had generated a lot of excitement because of their potential to be an alternative to statins, a standard treatment for CVD. Some patients cannot tolerate statins, spurring the search for new and more effective treatment options.
Eli Lilly thought the drug could reach blockbuster status before its lack of efficacy brought the trial to a close. As the third failed CTEP inhibitor, evacetrapib’s ineffectiveness on CVD may undermine development interest in the entire class.
Another new type of cholesterol drugs, known as PCSK9 inhibitors, are already on the market for the treatment of high cholesterol. However, their effect on CVD is still being studied.
–No benefit with evacetrapib despite increase in HDL and decrease in LDL
The fat lady hasn’t sung, the referee hasn’t counted up to 10, but it’s sure not looking good for the once highly promising class of drugs known as the CETP inhibitors.
Bang the Drum Slowly, and Play the Fife Lowly
Following the crash and burn of torcetrapib in the ILLUMINATE trial and dalcetrapib in the dal-OUTCOMES trial, we now have the full obituary details on a third CETP inhibitor, Lilly’s evacetrapib. The one remaining hope for the class lies with Merck’s anacetrapib, which continues to be studied in the ongoing REVEAL study.
12,000 high risk patients were randomized to evacetrapib or placebo. Evacetrapib, as anticipated, had a potent effect on lipids levels. HDL was dramatically increased by 130%, from 46 mg/dL in the placebo group to a whopping 104 mg/dL in the evacetrapib group. LDL levels also underwent a big change, from 84 mg/dL in the placebo group to 55 mg/dL in the evacetrapib group. One surprising finding was that the hsCRP increased by 4.6% under evacetrapib but decreased by 8% in the placebo group.
But the lipid results did not translate into clinical benefit. The primary endpoint (CV death, MI, stroke, coronary revascularization or hospitalization for unstable angina) was nearly identical in the two groups: 12.8% in the evacetrapib group versus 12.7% in the placebo group. There were no significant differences in any of the secondary endpoints.
There were some additional surprising findings. Investigator-reported hypertension was significantly increased with evacetrapib (11.4% versus 10.1% for placebo, P<0.05). There was a small but statistically significant difference of 1 mmHg in mean systolic blood pressure during the trial (132 with evacetrapib and 131 with placebo).
“Here we’ve got an agent that more than doubles the levels of good cholesterol and lowers bad cholesterol and yet has no effect on clinical events,” said Nicholls, in a press release. “We were disappointed and surprised by the results.”
“The failure of decreases in LDL-C to result in an overall morbidity-mortality benefit emphasizes the limitations of surrogate endpoints,” Nicholls said in his talk. “The findings continue to challenge the hope that CETP inhibition might successfully address residual CV risk.”
The failure of the CETP trials has led many experts to abandon the idea that simply raising HDL levels would prove to be beneficial. Opinion is now divided whether or not HDL has an important independent mechanistic role. Some believe that HDL still plays an important role but the HDL number is less important than measurements of its function.
Elliott Antman, MD, (Brigham and Women’s Hospital) cautioned against any interpretation suggesting that the results in any way seriously threaten the LDL hypothesis. He said that the relatively short followup in the study (less than 3 years) raises concerns that there was not enough time for any benefit from LDL reduction to emerge. The changes in CRP, though statistically significant, were also far too small to raise a clinical concern, he said.
I asked Sekar Kathiresan (Massachusetts General Hospital) whether the ACCELERATE results have any bearing on the LDL hypothesis. Here is his extended response:
I don’t think these results have ANY bearing on the ‘LDL hypothesis’.
The LDL hypothesis is: plasma LDL cholesterol causes coronary atherosclerosis in humans.
Epidemiological, experimental, human genetic, and treatment studies all are consistent with LDL being a causal factor for atherosclerosis. The treatment evidence comes from two LDL lowering mechanisms: statins and ezetimibe. A third LDL lowering mechanism (PCSK9i) has suggestive evidence.
The LDL hypothesis is not: ‘any way of lowering LDL will reduce risk for coronary heart disease’. For example, getting cancer lowers LDL cholesterol. Certainly, wouldn’t expect cancer to improve CV outcomes despite the fact that it lowers LDL.
One can easily envision medicines that are toxic yet lower LDL and such medicines would not be expected to lower CVD risk.
Clearly, CETP inhibition is not beneficial in humans despite lowering LDL.
Potential reasons for this include:
CETP inhibition leads to other harm that counteracts the LDL lowering.
RCT considerations (insufficient duration of LDL lowering (e.g., only 2 years; CTT curve expectation based on about 5y treatment)
off-target toxicity of small molecule inhibitors (both tor and eva increased BP). The degree of BP increase for eva was small but is this an indication of other adverse consequence?
My main takeaways from ACCELERATE are:
the failure of three CETP inhibitors in large RCTs indicate that this mechanism is unlikely to affect disease risk in humans
HDL cholesterol in no way can be utilized as a surrogate for CVD benefit in humans
Other related articles published in this Open Access Online Scientific Journal include the following:
Novel clinically-available comprehensive genomic profiling of both DNA and RNA in hematologic malignancies.
Profiling of 3696 clinical hematologic tumors identified somatic alterations that impact diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic selection.
Abstract
The spectrum of somatic alterations in hematologic malignancies includes substitutions, insertions/deletions (indels), copy number alterations (CNAs) and a wide range of gene fusions; no current clinically available single assay captures the different types of alterations. We developed a novel next-generation sequencing-based assay to identify all classes of genomic alterations using archived formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE), blood and bone marrow samples with high accuracy in a clinically relevant timeframe, which is performed in our CLIA-certified CAP-accredited laboratory. Targeted capture of DNA/RNA and next-generation sequencing reliably identifies substitutions, indels, CNAs and gene fusions, with similar accuracy to lower-throughput assays which focus on specific genes and types of genomic alterations. Profiling of 3696 samples identified recurrent somatic alterations that impact diagnosis, prognosis and therapy selection. This comprehensive genomic profiling approach has proved effective in detecting all types of genomic alterations, including fusion transcripts, which increases the ability to identify clinically-relevant genomic alterations with therapeutic relevance.
In addition to the concordance analysis, genomic profiling of the 76 test samples using FoundationOne Heme also identified 126 additional somatic alterations including clinically relevant genomic alterations in KRAS, TET2, EZH2, and DNMT3A.
Importantly, the study also showed that the molecular information supplied by the test can help accurately match patients with a particular targeted therapy.
In the study Foundation Medicine shared clinical data from genomic profiling of 3,696 hematologic malignancies submitted to its CLIA-certified, NYS-approved lab.
More than 90 percent of the specimens — 3,433 out of 3696 — were successfully characterized. The test identified at least one driver alteration in 95 percent of the tumor specimens, and results showed that 77 percent of the cases harbored at least one alteration linked to a commercially available targeted therapy or one that is in clinical development, the MSKCC researchers reported.
In addition, 61 percent of the cases harbored at least one alteration with known prognostic relevance in that tumor type.
In discussion of the results, the study authors argued that clinical merit of the test was underscored by the demonstrated ability to identify genetic lesions with prognostic and therapeutic relevance in specific diseases.
For example, the authors wrote, “In the case of B-cell ALL … the challenge has been that the critical genes … can be altered by whole gene/intragenic deletions, DNA base-pair substitutions, and larger indels, as well as chromosomal, intergenic, and cryptic rearrangements, which lead to expression of fusion transcripts.”
“Currently, most centers use an amalgam of DNA, FISH, and gene-specific RNA approaches to identify a subset of the most critical genetic lesions in B-ALL. Our assay provides a single profiling platform that can reliably identify all known actionable disease alleles relevant to B-ALL to improve diagnosis and risk-adapted therapy for B-ALL patients,” they wrote.
Genetic cause found for loss of beta cells during diabetes development.
Worldwide, 400 million people live with diabetes, with rapid increases projected. Patients with diabetes mostly fall into one of two categories, type 1 diabetics, triggered by autoimmunity at a young age, and type 2 diabetics, caused by metabolic dysfunction of the liver. Despite being labeled a “lifestyle disease”, diabetes has a strong genetic basis. New research under the direction of Adrian Liston (VIB/KU Leuven) has discovered that a common genetic defect in beta cells may underlie both forms of diabetes. This research was published in the international scientific journal Nature Genetics.
Adrian Liston (VIB/University of Leuven): “Our research finds that genetics is critical for the survival of beta cells in the pancreas – the cells that make insulin. Thanks to our genetic make-up, some of us have beta cells that are tough and robust, while others have beta cells that are fragile and can’t handle stress. It is these people who develop diabetes, either type 1 or type 2, while others with tougher beta cells will remain healthy even in if they suffer from autoimmunity or metabolic dysfunction of the liver.”
Different pathways to diabetes development
Diabetes is a hidden killer. One out of every 11 adults is suffering from the disease, yet half of them have not even been diagnosed. Diabetes is caused by the inability of the body to lower blood glucose, a process normally driven by insulin. In patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D), this is caused by the immune system killing off the beta cells that produce insulin. In patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), a metabolic dysfunction prevents insulin from working on the liver. In both cases, left untreated, the extra glucose in the blood can cause blindness, cardiovascular disease, diabetic nephropathy, diabetic neuropathy and death.
In this study, an international team of researchers investigated how genetic variation controls the development of diabetes. While most previous work has focused on the effect of genetics in altering the immune system (in T1D) and metabolic dysfunction of the liver (in T2D), this research found that genetics also affected the beta cells that produce insulin. Mice with fragile beta cells that were poor at repairing DNA damage would rapidly develop diabetes when those beta cells were challenged by cellular stress. Other mice, with robust beta cells that were good at repairing DNA damage, were able to stay non-diabetic for life, even when those islets were placed under severe cellular stress. The same pathways for beta cell survival and DNA damage repair were also found to be altered in diabetic patient samples, indicating that a genetic predisposition for fragile beta cells may underlie who develops diabetes.
Adrian Liston (VIB/University of Leuven): “While genetics are really the most important factor for developing diabetes, our food environment can also play a deciding role. Even mice with genetically superior beta cells ended up as diabetic when we increased the fat in their diet.”
A new model for testing type 2 diabetes treatments
Current treatments for T2D rely on improving the metabolic response of the liver to insulin. These antidiabetic drugs, in conjunction with lifestyle interventions, can control the early stages of T2D by allowing insulin to function on the liver again. However during the late stages of T2D, the death of beta cells means that there is no longer any insulin being produced in the pancreas. At this stage, antidiabetic drugs and lifestyle interventions have poor efficacy, and medical complications arise.
Dr Lydia Makaroff (International Diabetes Federation, not an author of the current study): “The health cost for diabetes currently exceeds US$600 billion, 12 percent of the global health budget, and will only increase as diabetes becomes more common. Much of this health care burden is caused by late-stage type 2 diabetes, where we do not have effective treatments, so we desperately need new research into novel therapeutic approaches. This discovery dramatically improves our understanding of type 2 diabetes, which will enable the design of better strategies and medications for diabetes in the future”.
Adrian Liston (VIB/University of Leuven): “The big problem in developing drugs for late-stage T2D is that, until now, there has not been an animal model for the beta cell death stage. Previously, animal models were all based on the early stage of metabolic dysfunction in the liver, which has allowed the development of good drugs for treating early-stage T2D. This new mouse model will allow us, for the first time, to test new antidiabetic drugs that focus on preserving beta cells. There are many promising drugs under development at life sciences companies that have just been waiting for a usable animal model. Who knows, there may even be useful compounds hidden away in alternative or traditional medicines that could be found through a good testing program. If a drug is found that stops late-stage diabetes, it would really be a major medical breakthrough!”
Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have found a new type of biomarker that can predict the risk of type 2 diabetes, by detecting epigenetic changes in specific genes through a simple blood test. The results are published today in Nature Communications.
“This could motivate a person at risk to change their lifestyle”, said Karl Bacos, researcher in epigenetics at Lund University.
Predicting the onset of diabetes is already possible by measuring the blood glucose level average, HbA1C, over time. However, the predictive potential of this method is modest and new methods are needed.
The discoveries made by the research group at Lund University have now made it possible to measure the presence of so-called DNA methylations in four specific genes, and thereby predict who is at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, long before the disease occurs. Methylations are chemical changes that control gene activity, that is, whether they are active or not.
“The hope is that this will be developed into a better way to predict the disease”, said Karl Bacos, first author of the study.
The researchers started by studying insulin-producing beta cells from deceased persons. They found that the DNA methylations in the four genes in question increased, depending on the donor’s age. This in turn affected the activity of the genes.
When these changes were copied in cultured beta cells, they proved to have a positive effect on insulin secretion.
“We could then see the same DNA methylation changes in the blood which was really cool”, said Karl Bacos.
The blood samples from the participants of two separate research projects – one Danish and one Finnish – were then studied and compared with blood samples taken from the same participants ten years later. The Finnish participants, who had exhibited higher levels of DNA methylation in their first sample, had a lower risk of type 2 diabetes ten years later. In the Danish participants, higher DNA methylation in their first sample was associated with higher insulin secretion ten years later. All of the Danish participants were healthy on both occasions, whereas approximately one-third of the Finnish participants had developed type 2 diabetes.
“Increased insulin secretion actually protects against type 2 diabetes. It could be the body’s way of protecting itself when other tissue becomes resistant to insulin, which often happens as we get older”, said professor and research project manager Charlotte Ling.
The studies were based on a relatively small number of participants, and a selection of genes. The researchers therefore now want to continue with finding markers with a stronger predictive potential by implementing so-called epigenetic whole-genome sequencing when analysing a person’s entire genetic make-up and all the DNA methylations that come with it, in a larger population group.
The research group has previously shown that age, diet and exercise affect the so-called epigenetic risk of type 2 diabetes.
“You cannot change your genes and the risks that they entail, but epigenetics means that you can affect the DNA methylations, and thereby gene activity, through lifestyle choices”, said Charlotte Ling.
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