| First Author | Hua Y | Year | 2010 |
| Journal | Genes Dev | Volume | 24 |
| Issue | 15 | Pages | 1634-44 |
| PubMed ID | 20624852 | Mgi Jnum | J:355105 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:7737785 | Doi | 10.1101/gad.1941310 |
| Citation | Hua Y, et al. (2010) Antisense correction of SMN2 splicing in the CNS rescues necrosis in a type III SMA mouse model. Genes Dev 24(15):1634-44 |
| abstractText | Increasing survival of motor neuron 2, centromeric (SMN2) exon 7 inclusion to express more full-length SMN protein in motor neurons is a promising approach to treat spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a genetic neurodegenerative disease. Previously, we identified a potent 2'-O-(2-methoxyethyl) (MOE) phosphorothioate-modified antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) that blocks an SMN2 intronic splicing silencer element and efficiently promotes exon 7 inclusion in transgenic mouse peripheral tissues after systemic administration. Here we address its efficacy in the spinal cord--a prerequisite for disease treatment--and its ability to rescue a mild SMA mouse model that develops tail and ear necrosis, resembling the distal tissue necrosis reported in some SMA infants. Using a micro-osmotic pump, we directly infused the ASO into a lateral cerebral ventricle in adult mice expressing a human SMN2 transgene; the ASO gave a robust and long-lasting increase in SMN2 exon 7 inclusion measured at both the mRNA and protein levels in spinal cord motor neurons. A single embryonic or neonatal intracerebroventricular ASO injection strikingly rescued the tail and ear necrosis in SMA mice. We conclude that this MOE ASO is a promising drug candidate for SMA therapy, and, more generally, that ASOs can be used to efficiently redirect alternative splicing of target genes in the CNS. |
