Project description:Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is an incurable neuromuscular degenerative disease, caused by a mutation in the dystrophin gene. Mdx mice recapitulate DMD features. Here we show that injection of wild-type (WT) embryonic stem cells (ESCs) into mdx blastocysts produces mice with improved pathology. A small fraction of WT ESCs incorporates into the mdx mouse nonuniformly to upregulate protein levels of dystrophin in the skeletal muscle. The chimeric muscle shows reduced regeneration and restores dystrobrevin, a dystrophin-related protein, in areas with high and with low dystrophin content. WT ESC injection also normalizes the amount of fat, a tissue that does not express dystrophin. ESC injection without dystrophin does not prevent the appearance of phenotypes in the skeletal muscle or in the fat. Thus, dystrophin supplied by the ESCs reverses disease in mdx mice globally. Experiment Overall Design: 3-week old mdx (C57BL/10ScSn-Dmdmdx/J, Jax labs) females were superovulated and mated with mdx males (Jax labs). Blastocysts were collected at 3.5 days afer mating, injected with 15 WT or mdx R26 ES cells. Injected blastocysts were then transferred into the uteri of pseudopregnant females and allowed to develop to term. Skeletal muscle from 4 month old chimeric male mice was collected, RNA was isolated and microarray analysis were performed.
Project description:Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is an incurable neuromuscular degenerative disease, caused by a mutation in the dystrophin gene. Mdx mice recapitulate DMD features. Here we show that injection of wild-type (WT) embryonic stem cells (ESCs) into mdx blastocysts produces mice with improved pathology. A small fraction of WT ESCs incorporates into the mdx mouse nonuniformly to upregulate protein levels of dystrophin in the skeletal muscle. The chimeric muscle shows reduced regeneration and restores dystrobrevin, a dystrophin-related protein, in areas with high and with low dystrophin content. WT ESC injection also normalizes the amount of fat, a tissue that does not express dystrophin. ESC injection without dystrophin does not prevent the appearance of phenotypes in the skeletal muscle or in the fat. Thus, dystrophin supplied by the ESCs reverses disease in mdx mice globally.
Project description:Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a genetic disease that results in the death of affected boys by early adulthood.The genetic defect responsible for DMD has been known for over 25 years, yet at present there is neither cure nor effective treatment for DMD. During early disease onset, the mdx mouse has been validated as an animal model for DMD and use of this model has led to valuable but incomplete insights into the disease process. For example, immune cells are thought to be responsible for a significant portion of muscle cell death in the mdx mouse; however, the role and time course of the immune response in the dystrophic process have not been well described. In this paper we constructed a simple mathematical model to investigate the role of the immune response in muscle degeneration and subsequent regeneration in the mdx mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Our model suggests that the immune response contributes substantially to the muscle degeneration and regeneration processes. Furthermore, the analysis of the model predicts that the immune system response oscillates throughout the life of the mice, and the damaged fibers are never completely cleared.
Project description:Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a classical monogenic disorder, a model disease for genomic studies and a priority candidate for regenerative medicine and gene therapy. Although the genetic cause of DMD is well known, the molecular pathogenesis of disease and the response to therapy are incompletely understood. Here, we describe analyses of protein, mRNA and microRNA expression in the tibialis anterior of the mdx mouse model of DMD. Notably, 3272 proteins were quantifiable and 525 identified as differentially expressed in mdx muscle (P < 0.01). Therapeutic restoration of dystrophin by exon skipping induced widespread shifts in protein and mRNA expression towards wild-type expression levels, whereas the miRNome was largely unaffected. Comparison analyses between datasets showed that protein and mRNA ratios were only weakly correlated (r = 0.405), and identified a multitude of differentially affected cellular pathways, upstream regulators and predicted miRNA–target interactions. This study provides fundamental new insights into gene expression and regulation in dystrophic muscle. 3 Wt, 4 mdx and 4 Pip6e-PMO treated mdx mice
Project description:Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a classical monogenic disorder, a model disease for genomic studies and a priority candidate for regenerative medicine and gene therapy. Although the genetic cause of DMD is well known, the molecular pathogenesis of disease and the response to therapy are incompletely understood. Here,we describe analyses of protein, mRNA and microRNA expression in the tibialis anterior of the mdx mouse model of DMD. Notably, 3272 proteins were quantifiable and 525 identified as differentially expressed in mdx muscle (P < 0.01). Therapeutic restoration of dystrophin by exon skipping induced widespread shifts in protein and mRNA expression towards wild-type expression levels, whereas the miRNome was largely unaffected. Comparison analyses between datasets showed that protein and mRNA ratios were only weakly correlated (r = 0.405), and identified a multitude of differentially affected cellular pathways, upstream regulators and predicted miRNA–target interactions. This study provides fundamental new insights into gene expression and regulation in dystrophic muscle. 3 Wt, 4 mdx and 4 Pip6e-PMO treated mdx mice
Project description:CD4+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) accumulate in skeletal muscle from dystrophin-deficient mdx mice. Analysis of global gene expression in muscles from mdx mice treated with anti-CD25 compared with muscles from mdx mice treated with control antibody revealed that Tregs partially protect mdx mice from muscle pathology and promote muscle repair/regeneration. Mdx mice received 2 ip injections of 100 mg of anti-CD25 mAb (clone PC61) or rat IgG (Jackson Immunoresearch) at days 17 and 20 of age. Muscles were dissected 7 days after the last injection.