c-Abl is a non-receptor tyrosine kinase involved in the regulation of cell migration and morphogenesis, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Here, we report the identification of tight junction protein ZO-2 as a bona fide substrate of c-Abl. We show that c-Abl directly binds to and phosphorylates the C-terminus of ZO-2. In addition, c-Abl stimulates the activity of JAK1, which subsequently phosphorylates the N-terminus of ZO-2. Using the RNAi-mediated knockdown/rescue strategy, we demonstrate that c-Abl regulates cellular morphology and migration through targeting ZO-2 for phosphorylation. c-Abl activity is also associated with decreased traction forces exerted on the cell substrate, thus corroborating c-Abl kinase activity-mediated inhibition of cell migration. Collectively, our data uncover ZO-2 as a novel mediator for c-Abl-dependent regulation of cell migration.

While Huntington's disease (HD), a Mendelian disorder caused by an expanded CAG repeat in HTT, is considered rare, the true prevalence could be significantly higher due to substantial underascertainment. Given inherent biases in empirically assessing disease prevalence, we performed mathematical modelling and validation analyses to estimate the frequency of expanded CAG repeats in the general population to better understand the disease prevalence. We developed an exponential decay model after confirming that the logarithmic decrease in frequency of CAG repeats extends into the pathogenic range (CAG > 35). The model was further refined by incorporating HD onset and mortality probabilities to estimate the clinical ascertainment rate. Our age-adjusted exponential decay model estimated one expanded repeat in 325 people and further showed that the frequency of expanded repeats decreases with age due to the early mortality associated with HD, which was validated by All of Us and UK Biobank data. Importantly, our data suggest that approximately half of symptomatic HD individuals aged 30-70 are not clinically ascertained/diagnosed. Our data, showing higher frequencies of expanded repeats in the general population and significant underascertainment rates, imply that HD prevalence could be twice as high as current estimates.

An expanded CAG repeat in the huntingtin gene ( HTT ) causes Huntington’s disease (HD). Since the length of uninterrupted CAG repeat, not polyglutamine, determines the age-at-onset in HD, base editing strategies to convert CAG to CAA are anticipated to delay onset by shortening the uninterrupted CAG repeat. Here, we developed base editing strategies to convert CAG in the repeat to CAA and determined their molecular outcomes and effects on relevant disease phenotypes. Base editing strategies employing combinations of cytosine base editors and guide RNAs (gRNAs) efficiently converted CAG to CAA at various sites in the CAG repeat without generating significant indels, off-target edits, or transcriptome alterations, demonstrating their feasibility and specificity. Candidate BE strategies converted CAG to CAA on both expanded and non-expanded CAG repeats without altering HTT mRNA and protein levels. In addition, somatic CAG repeat expansion, which is the major disease driver in HD, was significantly decreased in the liver by a candidate BE strategy treatment in HD knock-in mice carrying canonical CAG repeats. Notably, CAG repeat expansion was abolished entirely in HD knock-in mice carrying CAA-interrupted repeats, supporting the therapeutic potential of CAG-to-CAA conversion strategies in HD and potentially other repeat expansion disorders.

Myofibrillar myopathy 6 (MFM6) is a rare childhood-onset myopathy characterized by myofibrillar disintegration, muscle weakness, and cardiomyopathy. The genetic cause of MFM6 is p.Pro209Leu mutation (rs121918312-T) in the BAG3 gene, which generates the disease outcomes in a dominant fashion. Since the consequences of the BAG3 mutation are strong and rapidly progressing, most MFM6 patients are due to de novo mutation. There are no effective treatments for MFM6 despite its well-known genetic cause. Given p.Pro209Leu mutation is dominant, regenerative medicine approaches employing orthologous stem cells in which mutant BAG3 is inactivated offer a promising avenue. Here, we developed personalized allele-specific CRISPR-Cas9 strategies capitalizing on PAM-altering SNP and PAM-proximal SNP. In order to identify the disease chromosome carrying the de novo mutation in our two affected individuals, haplotype phasing through cloning-sequencing was performed. Based on the sequence differences between mutant and normal BAG3, we developed personalized allele-specific CRISPR-Cas9 strategies to selectively inactivate the mutant allele 1) by preventing the transcription of the mutant BAG3 and 2) by inducing nonsense-mediated decay (NMD) of mutant BAG3 mRNA. Subsequent experimental validation in patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines showed complete allele specificities of our CRISPR-Cas9 strategies and molecular consequences attributable to inactivated mutant BAG3. In addition, mutant allele-specific CRISPR-Cas9 targeting did not alter the characteristics of iPSC or the capacity to differentiate into cardiomyocytes. Together, our data demonstrate the feasibility and potential of personalized allele-specific CRISPR-Cas9 approaches to selectively inactivate the mutant BAG3 to generate cell resources for regenerative medicine approaches for MFM6.

Dominant gain-of-function mechanisms in Huntington’s disease (HD) suggest that selective silencing of mutant HTT produces robust therapeutic benefits. Here, capitalizing on exonic protospacer adjacent motif–altering (PAM-altering) SNP (PAS), we developed an allele-specific CRISPR/Cas9 strategy to permanently inactivate mutant HTT through nonsense-mediated decay (NMD). Comprehensive sequence/haplotype analysis identified SNP-generated NGG PAM sites on exons of common HTT haplotypes in HD subjects, revealing a clinically relevant PAS-based mutant-specific CRISPR/Cas9 strategy. Alternative allele of rs363099 (29th exon) eliminates the NGG PAM site on the most frequent normal HTT haplotype in HD, permitting mutant-specific CRISPR/Cas9 therapeutics in a predicted ~20% of HD subjects with European ancestry. Our rs363099-based CRISPR/Cas9 showed perfect allele specificity and good targeting efficiencies in patient-derived cells. Dramatically reduced mutant HTT mRNA and complete loss of mutant protein suggest that our allele-specific CRISPR/Cas9 strategy inactivates mutant HTT through NMD. In addition, GUIDE-Seq analysis and subsequent validation experiments support high levels of on-target gene specificity. Our data demonstrate a significant target population, complete mutant specificity, decent targeting efficiency in patient-derived cells, and minimal off-target effects on protein-coding genes, proving the concept of PAS-based allele-specific NMD-CRISPR/Cas9 and supporting its therapeutic potential in HD.

Huntington's disease (HD) is caused by an expanded CAG repeat in huntingtin (HTT). Since HD is dominant and loss of HTT leads to neurological abnormalities, safe therapeutic strategies require selective inactivation of mutant HTT. Previously, we proposed a concept of CRISPR-Cas9 using mutant-specific PAM sites generated by SNPs to selectively inactivate mutant HTT. Aiming at revealing suitable targets for clinical development, we analyzed the largest HD genotype dataset to identify target PAM-altering SNPs (PAS) and subsequently evaluated their allele specificities. The gRNAs based on the PAM sites generated by rs2857935, rs16843804, and rs16843836 showed high levels of allele specificity in patient-derived cells. Simultaneous use of two gRNAs based on rs2857935-rs16843804 or rs2857935-rs16843836 produced selective genomic deletions in mutant HTT and prevented the transcription of mutant HTT mRNA without impacting the expression of normal counterpart or re-integration of the excised fragment elsewhere in the genome. RNA-seq and off-target analysis confirmed high levels of allele specificity and the lack of recurrent off-targeting. Approximately 60% of HD subjects are eligible for mutant-specific CRISPR-Cas9 strategies of targeting one of these three PAS in conjunction with one non-allele-specific site, supporting high applicability of PAS-based allele-specific CRISPR approaches in the HD patient population.

We recently reported that ZBTB7A is a bona fide transcription repressor of key glycolytic genes and its downregulation in human cancer contributes to tumor metabolism. As reduced expression of ZBTB7A is found only in a subset of human cancers, we explored alternative mechanisms of its inactivation by mining human cancer genome databases. We discovered recurrent somatic mutations of ZBTB7A in multiple types of human cancers with a marked enrichment of mutations within the zinc finger domain. Functional characterization of the mutants demonstrated that mutations within the zinc finger region of ZBTB7A invariably resulted in loss of function. As a consequence, the glycolytic genes were markedly upregulated in cancer cells harboring ZBTB7A zinc finger mutation, leading to increased glycolysis and proliferation. Our study uncovers the loss-of-function mutation in ZBTB7A as a novel mechanism causing elevated glycolysis in human cancer, which carries important therapeutic implication.

Radiotherapy is the current frontline cancer treatment, but the resulting severe side effects often pose a significant threat to cancer patients, raising a pressing need for the development of effective strategies for radiotherapy protection. We exploited the distinct metabolic characteristics between normal and malignant cells for a metabolic mechanism of normal tissue protection. We showed that low doses of arsenic induce HIF-1α, which activates a metabolic shift from oxidative phosphorylation to glycolysis, resulting in increased cellular resistance to radiation. Of importance is that low-dose arsenic-induced HIF-1α requires functional p53, limiting the glycolytic shift to normal cells. Using tumor-bearing mice, we provide proof of principle for selective normal tissue protection against radiation injury.

Myocyte enhancer factor 2 ( MEF2) plays pivotal roles in various biological processes, and its transcriptional activity is regulated by histone acetylation/deacetylation enzymes in a calcium-dependent fashion. A calcineurin-binding protein 1 ( Cabin1) has been shown to participate in repression of MEF2 by recruiting mSin3 and its associated histone deacetylases. Here, we report that histone methylation also takes a part in Cabin1-mediated repression of MEF2. Immunoprecipitate of Cabin1 complex can methylate histone H3 by association with SUV39H1. SUV39H1 increased Cabin1-mediated repression of MEF2 transcriptional activity in MEF2-targeting promoters. The SUV39H1 was revealed to bind to the 501-900-amino acid region of Cabin1, which was distinct from its histone deacetylase-recruiting domain. In addition, the Gal4-Cabin1-( 501-900) alone repressed a constitutively active Gal4-tk-promoter, indicating that Cabin1 recruits SUV39H1 and represses transcriptional activity. Finally, both SUV39H1 and Cabin1 were shown to bind on the MEF2 target promoter in a calcium-dependent manner. Thus, Cabin1 recruits chromatin-modifying enzymes, both histone deacetylases and a histone methyltransferase, to repress MEF2 transcriptional activity.