A splice-switching oligonucleotide treatment ameliorates glycogen storage disease type 1a in mice with G6PC c.648G>T

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Abstract

Glycogen storage disease type 1a (GSD1a) is caused by a congenital deficiency of glucose-6-phosphatase-α (G6Pase-α, encoded by G6PC), which is primarily associated with life-threatening hypoglycemia. Although strict dietary management substantially improves life expectancy, patients still experience intermittent hypoglycemia and develop hepatic complications. Emerging therapies utilizing new modalities such as adeno-associated virus and mRNA with lipid nanoparticles are under development for GSD1a but potentially require complicated glycemic management throughout life. Here, we present an oligonucleotide-based therapy to produce intact G6Pase-α from a pathogenic human variant, G6PC c.648G>T, the most prevalent variant in East Asia causing aberrant splicing of G6PC. DS-4108b, a splice-switching oligonucleotide, was designed to correct this aberrant splicing, especially in liver. We generated a mouse strain with homozygous knockin of this variant that well reflected the pathophysiology of patients with GSD1a. DS-4108b recovered hepatic G6Pase activity through splicing correction and prevented hypoglycemia and various hepatic abnormalities in the mice. Moreover, DS-4108b had long-lasting efficacy of more than 12 weeks in mice that received a single dose and had favorable pharmacokinetics and tolerability in mice and monkeys. These findings together indicate that this oligonucleotide-based therapy could provide a sustainable and curative therapeutic option under easy disease management for GSD1a patients with G6PC c.648G>T.

Authors

Kentaro Ito, Go Tajima, Chikako Kamisato, Miyuki Tsumura, Mitsuhiro Iwamoto, Yukiko Sekiguchi, Yukinobu Numata, Kyoko Watanabe, Yoshiyuki Yabe, Satomi Kanki, Yusuke Fujieda, Koichi Goto, Yoshitaka Sogawa, Masataka Oitate, Hiroyuki Nagase, Shinnosuke Tsuji, Tomohiro Nishizawa, Masayo Kakuta, Takeshi Masuda, Yoshiyuki Onishi, Makoto Koizumi, Hidefumi Nakamura, Satoshi Okada, Masafumi Matsuo, Kiyosumi Takaishi