Third-generation lentiviral gene therapy rescues function in a mouse model of Usher 1B
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: Usher syndrome 1B (USH1B) is a devastating genetic disorder with congenital deafness, loss of balance, and blindness caused by mutations in the myosin-VIIa (MYO7A) gene, for which there is currently no cure. We developed a gene therapy approach addressing the vestibulo-cochlear deficits of USH1B using a third-generation, high-capacity lentiviral vector system capable of delivering the large 6,645-bp MYO7A cDNA. Lentivirally delivered MYO7A and co-encoded dTomato were successfully expressed in the cochlear cell line HEI-OC1. In normal-hearing mice, both cochlea and the vestibular organ were efficiently transduced, and ectopic MYO7A overexpression did not show any adverse effects. In Shaker-1 mice, an USH1B disease model based on Myo7a mutation, cochlear and vestibular hair cells, the main inner ear cell types affected in USH1B, were successfully transduced. In homozygous mutant mice, delivery of MYO7A at postnatal day 16 resulted in a trend for partial recovery of auditory function and in strongly reduced balance deficits. Heterozygous mutant mice were found to develop severe hearing loss at 6 months of age without balance deficits, and lentiviral MYO7A gene therapy completely rescued hearing to wild-type hearing thresholds. In summary, this study demonstrates improved hearing and balance function through lentiviral gene therapy in the inner ear.
Source: Molecular Therapy
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,900
Funders: California Department of Fish and Game, Niedersächsische Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg, National Institutes of Health, University of California, Los Angeles, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, European Research Council, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, H2020 European Research Council, REBIRTH HANNOVER Forschungszentrum für translationale regenerative Medizin
Awards: Gene therapy of inherited and acquired hearing loss, G1692432945, G1955293676, Kansas Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, Spinning-Disk Confocal Microscope for Wide-Field, Super-Resolution, and Live-Cell Imaging, G6278416058, Kansas Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (KIDDRC)
OpenAlex ID: W4388072855