Forelimb Treatment in a Large Cohort of Dystrophic Dogs Supports Delivery of a Recombinant AAV for Exon Skipping in Duchenne Patients.

Mol Ther. 2014 Aug 4. doi: 10.1038/mt.2014.151. [Epub ahead of print]

Forelimb Treatment in a Large Cohort of Dystrophic Dogs Supports Delivery of a Recombinant AAV for Exon Skipping in Duchenne Patients.

Le Guiner C et al.

Abstract: http://www.nature.com/mt/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/mt2014151a.html

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a severe muscle-wasting disorder caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene, without curative treatment yet available. Our study provides, for the first time, the overall safety profile and therapeutic dose of a recombinant adeno-associated virus vector, serotype 8 (rAAV8) carrying a modified U7snRNA sequence promoting exon skipping to restore a functional in-frame dystrophin transcript, and injected by locoregional transvenous perfusion of the forelimb. Eighteen Golden Retriever Muscular Dystrophy (GRMD) dogs were exposed to increasing doses of GMP-manufactured vector. Treatment was well tolerated in all, and no acute nor delayed adverse effect, including systemic and immune toxicity was detected. There was a dose relationship for the amount of exon skipping with up to 80% of myofibers expressing dystrophin at the highest dose. Similarly, histological, nuclear magnetic resonance pathological indices and strength improvement responded in a dose-dependent manner. The systematic comparison of effects using different independent methods, allowed to define a minimum threshold of dystrophin expressing fibers (>33% for structural measures and >40% for strength) under which there was no clear-cut therapeutic effect. Altogether, these results support the concept of a phase 1/2 trial of locoregional delivery into upper limbs of nonambulatory DMD patients.

Molecular Therapy (2014); doi:10.1038/mt.2014.151.