Principal Investigators

    Dr. W.M.C. van Roon -Mom

    Institution

    LUMC

    Contact information of lead PI

    Country

    Netherlands

    Title of project or programme

    Antisense oligonucleotide mediated exon skipping to remove the expanded polyQ repeat from the ataxin 3 protein in Spinocerebellar Ataxia 3

    Source of funding information

    Hersenstichting

    Total sum awarded (Euro)

    € 130,000

    Start date of award

    01/01/2013

    Total duration of award in years

    4

    Keywords

    Research Abstract

    Polyglutamine disorders are caused by expansion of a CAG repeat, encoding a stretch of glutamine amino acids (hence polyglutamine). For each disorder the repeat is located in a different protein. Huntington Disease and Spinocerebellar Ataxia 3 (SCA3) are the most frequent polyglutamine (polyQ) disorders with current treatments limited to symptomatic relief. The prevalence of the SCAs varies significantly according to race and place of birth. International prevalence estimates vary from 0.3 to 3.0 per 100,000. Patients with a CAG repeat above a certain threshold will develop the disease, symptoms become apparent around mid-life and gradually worsen over time.
    The ataxin-3 protein has important functions within the cell and complete removal might not be beneficial. The current project proposes an approach for antisense oligonucleotide (AON) mediated therapy in SCA3 that should reduce protein toxicity without lowering protein levels, by removing the polyQ repeat from the protein through in-frame exon skipping. AONs will be directed at the exons that encode the polyQ repeat, this will result in the formation of a shorter ataxin-3 protein that should retain most of its important wild type functions without changing the ataxin-3 protein levels. The most promising AONs will be selected in cultured cells and then tested in an animal model of SCA3.

    Further information available at:

Types: Investments < €500k
Member States: Netherlands
Diseases: N/A
Years: 2016
Database Categories: N/A
Database Tags: N/A

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