Title
A Comprehensive Haplotype-Targeting Strategy for Allele-Specific HTT Suppression in Huntington Disease
Date Issued
05 December 2019
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Kay C.
Collins J.A.
Caron N.S.
Agostinho L.d.A.
Findlay-Black H.
Casal L.
Sumathipala D.
Dissanayake V.H.W.
Baine F.
Krause A.
Greenberg J.L.
Paiva C.L.A.
Squitieri F.
Hayden M.R.
Publisher(s)
Cell Press
Abstract
Huntington disease (HD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder caused by a gain-of-function mutation in HTT. Suppression of mutant HTT has emerged as a leading therapeutic strategy for HD, with allele-selective approaches targeting HTT SNPs now in clinical trials. Haplotypes associated with the HD mutation (A1, A2, A3a) represent panels of allele-specific gene silencing targets for efficient treatment of individuals with HD of Northern European and indigenous South American ancestry. Here we extend comprehensive haplotype analysis of the HD mutation to key populations of Southern European, South Asian, Middle Eastern, and admixed African ancestry. In each of these populations, the HD mutation occurs predominantly on the A2 HTT haplotype. Analysis of HD haplotypes across all affected population groups enables rational selection of candidate target SNPs for development of allele-selective gene silencing therapeutics worldwide. Targeting SNPs on the A1 and A2 haplotypes in parallel is essential to achieve treatment of the most HD-affected subjects in populations where HD is most prevalent. Current allele-specific approaches will leave a majority of individuals with HD untreated in populations where the HD mutation occurs most frequently on the A2 haplotype. We further demonstrate preclinical development of potent and selective ASOs targeting SNPs on the A2 HTT haplotype, representing an allele-specific treatment strategy for these individuals. On the basis of comprehensive haplotype analysis, we show the maximum proportion of HD-affected subjects that may be treated with three or four allele targets in different populations worldwide, informing current allele-specific HTT silencing strategies.
Start page
1112
End page
1125
Volume
105
Issue
6
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Genética, Herencia Genética humana Neurociencias
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85075558785
PubMed ID
Source
American Journal of Human Genetics
ISSN of the container
00029297
Sponsor(s)
We are grateful to all the patients and families from the Centre for HD Clinic at UBC, across Canada and the world, who have donated samples and clinical data to the HD BioBank at UBC and continue to make this research possible. The research leading to these results has received funding from the E-Rare Research Programme which is a transnational R&D program jointly funded by national funding organizations within the framework of the ERA-NET E-Rare 3. This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research ( ERT-155723 and FDN-154278 to M.R.H.). We thank the Fondazione Lega Italiana Ricerca Huntington e malattie correlate (LIRH) for contributing to DNA sample collection in Italy and the Middle East. We wish to thank the patients and families that consented to the use of biological samples for this research project and the Human Genetics Unit Development Fund for funding to recruit the subjects in Colombo, Sri Lanka. We also thank the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) for the financial support and postdoctoral fellowship granted to L.A.A. (Science without Borders Program). Postdoctoral support for N.S.C. was provided by the Ripples of Hope Pfizer Trainee Award , Canadian Institutes of Health Research , James Family Fellowship , and the Huntington’s Disease Society of America Berman/Topper HD Career Development Fellowship . We are grateful to all the patients and families from the Centre for HD Clinic at UBC, across Canada and the world, who have donated samples and clinical data to the HD BioBank at UBC and continue to make this research possible. The research leading to these results has received funding from the E-Rare Research Programme which is a transnational R&D program jointly funded by national funding organizations within the framework of the ERA-NET E-Rare 3. This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (ERT-155723 and FDN-154278 to M.R.H.). We thank the Fondazione Lega Italiana Ricerca Huntington e malattie correlate (LIRH) for contributing to DNA sample collection in Italy and the Middle East. We wish to thank the patients and families that consented to the use of biological samples for this research project and the Human Genetics Unit Development Fund for funding to recruit the subjects in Colombo, Sri Lanka. We also thank the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) for the financial support and postdoctoral fellowship granted to L.A.A. (Science without Borders Program). Postdoctoral support for N.S.C. was provided by the Ripples of Hope Pfizer Trainee Award, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, James Family Fellowship, and the Huntington's Disease Society of America Berman/Topper HD Career Development Fellowship.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus