PMO-based let-7c site blocking oligonucleotide (SBO) mediated utrophin upregulation in mdx mice, a therapeutic approach for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD)

Sci Rep. 2020 Dec 9;10(1):21492. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-76338-1.

Abstract

Upregulation of utrophin, a dystrophin related protein, is considered a promising therapeutic approach for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Utrophin expression is repressed at the post-transcriptional level by a set of miRNAs, among which let-7c is evolutionarily highly conserved. We designed PMO-based SBOs complementary to the let-7c binding site in UTRN 3'UTR, with the goal of inhibiting let-7c interaction with UTRN mRNA and thus upregulating utrophin. We used the C2C12UTRN5'luc3' reporter cell line in which the 5'- and 3'-UTRs of human UTRN sequences flank luciferase, for reporter assays and the C2C12 cell line for utrophin western blots, to independently evaluate the site blocking efficiency of a series of let-7c PMOs in vitro. Treatment of one-month old mdx mice with the most effective let-7c PMO (i.e. S56) resulted in ca. two-fold higher utrophin protein expression in skeletal muscles and the improvement in dystrophic pathophysiology in mdx mice, in vivo. In summary, we show that PMO-based let-7c SBO has potential applicability for upregulating utrophin expression as a therapeutic approach for DMD.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • 3' Untranslated Regions
  • Animals
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Dystrophin / genetics
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred mdx
  • MicroRNAs / genetics*
  • MicroRNAs / metabolism
  • Muscle, Skeletal / metabolism
  • Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne / therapy*
  • Oligonucleotides / metabolism
  • RNA, Messenger / genetics
  • RNA, Messenger / metabolism
  • Transcriptional Activation
  • Utrophin / genetics
  • Utrophin / metabolism*

Substances

  • 3' Untranslated Regions
  • Dystrophin
  • MicroRNAs
  • Oligonucleotides
  • RNA, Messenger
  • Utrophin
  • mirnlet7 microRNA, mouse