Cellular trafficking determines the exon skipping activity of Pip6a-PMO in mdx skeletal and cardiac muscle cells

T Lehto, A Castillo Alvarez, S Gauck… - Nucleic Acids …, 2014 - academic.oup.com
T Lehto, A Castillo Alvarez, S Gauck, MJ Gait, T Coursindel, MJA Wood, B Lebleu…
Nucleic Acids Research, 2014academic.oup.com
Cell-penetrating peptide-mediated delivery of phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers
(PMOs) has shown great promise for exon-skipping therapy of Duchenne Muscular
Dystrophy (DMD). Pip6a-PMO, a recently developed conjugate, is particularly efficient in a
murine DMD model, although mechanisms responsible for its increased biological activity
have not been studied. Here, we evaluate the cellular trafficking and the biological activity of
Pip6a-PMO in skeletal muscle cells and primary cardiomyocytes. Our results indicate that …
Abstract
Cell-penetrating peptide-mediated delivery of phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PMOs) has shown great promise for exon-skipping therapy of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). Pip6a-PMO, a recently developed conjugate, is particularly efficient in a murine DMD model, although mechanisms responsible for its increased biological activity have not been studied. Here, we evaluate the cellular trafficking and the biological activity of Pip6a-PMO in skeletal muscle cells and primary cardiomyocytes. Our results indicate that Pip6a-PMO is taken up in the skeletal muscle cells by an energy- and caveolae-mediated endocytosis. Interestingly, its cellular distribution is different in undifferentiated and differentiated skeletal muscle cells (vesicular versus nuclear). Likewise, Pip6a-PMO mainly accumulates in cytoplasmic vesicles in primary cardiomyocytes, in which clathrin-mediated endocytosis seems to be the pre-dominant uptake pathway. These differences in cellular trafficking correspond well with the exon-skipping data, with higher activity in myotubes than in myoblasts or cardiomyocytes. These differences in cellular trafficking thus provide a possible mechanistic explanation for the variations in exon-skipping activity and restoration of dystrophin protein in heart muscle compared with skeletal muscle tissues in DMD models. Overall, Pip6a-PMO appears as the most efficient conjugate to date (low nanomolar EC50), even if limitations remain from endosomal escape.
Oxford University Press