Abstract
Over the last decades, animal models have become increasingly important in therapeutic drug development and assessment. The use of these models, mainly mice and rats, allow evaluating drugs in the real-organism environment and context. However, several molecular therapeutic approaches are sequence-dependent, and therefore, the humanization of such models is required to assess the efficacy. The generation of genetically modified humanized mouse models is often an expensive and laborious process that may not always recapitulate the human molecular and/or physiological phenotype. In this chapter, we summarize basic aspects to consider before designing and generating humanized models, especially when they are aimed to test antisense-based therapies.
Full text of this article can be found in Bookshelf.
References
- Mullard A (2021) 2020 FDA drug approvals.Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2021 Feb;20(2):85–90. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41573-021-00002-0 doi: 10.1038/d41573-021-00002-0. [DOI] [PubMed]
- Darrow JJ, Avorn J, Kesselheim AS (2020) FDA approval and regulation of pharmaceuticals, 1983-2018. JAMA 323(2):164–176. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2019.20288 doi: 10.1001/jama.2019.20288. [DOI] [PubMed]
- Walsh NC, Kenney LL, Jangalwe S et al (2017) Humanized mouse models of clinical disease. Annu Rev Pathol 12:187–215. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-pathol-052016-100332 doi: 10.1146/annurev-pathol-052016-100332. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Sardone V, Zhou H, Muntoni F et al (2017) Antisense oligonucleotide-based therapy for neuromuscular disease. Molecules 22(4):563. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules22040563 doi: 10.3390/molecules22040563. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Lin S, Lin Y, Nery JR et al (2014) Comparison of the transcriptional landscapes between human and mouse tissues. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 111(48):17224–17229. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1413624111 doi: 10.1073/pnas.1413624111. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- O’Connell AK, Douam F (2020) Humanized mice for live-attenuated vaccine research: from unmet potential to new promises. Vaccines (Basel) 8(1):36. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines8010036 doi: 10.3390/vaccines8010036. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Ito R, Takahashi T, Ito M (2018) Humanized mouse models: application to human diseases. J Cell Physiol 233(5):3723–3728. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcp.26045 doi: 10.1002/jcp.26045. [DOI] [PubMed]
- Hammond SM, Aartsma-Rus A, Alves S et al (2021) Delivery of oligonucleotide-based therapeutics: challenges and opportunities. EMBO Mol Med 13(4):e13243. https://doi.org/10.15252/emmm.202013243 doi: 10.15252/emmm.202013243. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Mouse Genome Sequencing C, Waterston RH, Lindblad-Toh K et al (2002) Initial sequencing and comparative analysis of the mouse genome. Nature 420(6915):520–562. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01262 doi: 10.1038/nature01262. [DOI] [PubMed]
- Dong X, Greven MC, Kundaje A et al (2012) Modeling gene expression using chromatin features in various cellular contexts. Genome Biol 13(9):R53. https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-2012-13-9-r53 doi: 10.1186/gb-2012-13-9-r53. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Blevitt JM, Hack MD, Herman K et al (2016) A single amino acid difference between mouse and human 5-lipoxygenase activating protein (FLAP) explains the speciation and differential pharmacology of novel FLAP inhibitors. J Biol Chem 291(24):12724–12731. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M116.725325 doi: 10.1074/jbc.M116.725325. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Garanto A, Vicente-Tejedor J, Riera M et al (2012) Targeted knockdown of Cerkl, a retinal dystrophy gene, causes mild affectation of the retinal ganglion cell layer. Biochim Biophys Acta 8:1258–1269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbadis.2012.04.004 doi: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2012.04.004. [DOI] [PubMed]
- Garanto A, van Beersum SE, Peters TA et al (2013) Unexpected CEP290 mRNA splicing in a humanized knock-in mouse model for Leber congenital amaurosis. PLoS One 8(11):e79369. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0079369 doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0079369. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Barman-Aksozen J, Wiek PC, Bansode VB et al (2017) Modeling the ferrochelatase c.315-48C modifier mutation for erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) in mice. Dis Model Mech 10(3):225–233. https://doi.org/10.1242/dmm.027755 doi: 10.1242/dmm.027755. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Abril JF, Castelo R, Guigo R (2005) Comparison of splice sites in mammals and chicken. Genome Res 15(1):111–119. https://doi.org/10.1101/gr.3108805 doi: 10.1101/gr.3108805. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Garanto A, Duijkers L, Collin RW (2015) Species-dependent splice recognition of a cryptic exon resulting from a recurrent intronic CEP290 mutation that causes congenital blindness. Int J Mol Sci 16(3):5285–5298. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms16035285 doi: 10.3390/ijms16035285. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Molday LL, Rabin AR, Molday RS (2000) ABCR expression in foveal cone photoreceptors and its role in Stargardt macular dystrophy. Nat Genet 25(3):257–258. https://doi.org/10.1038/77004 doi: 10.1038/77004. [DOI] [PubMed]
- Sun H, Smallwood PM, Nathans J (2000) Biochemical defects in ABCR protein variants associated with human retinopathies. Nat Genet 26(2):242–246. https://doi.org/10.1038/79994 doi: 10.1038/79994. [DOI] [PubMed]
- Charbel Issa P, Barnard AR, Herrmann P et al (2015) Rescue of the Stargardt phenotype in Abca4 knockout mice through inhibition of vitamin a dimerization. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 112(27):8415–8420. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1506960112 doi: 10.1073/pnas.1506960112. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Weng J, Mata NL, Azarian SM et al (1999) Insights into the function of Rim protein in photoreceptors and etiology of Stargardt’s disease from the phenotype in abcr knockout mice. Cell 98(1):13–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0092-8674(00)80602-9 doi: 10.1016/S0092-8674(00)80602-9. [DOI] [PubMed]
- Yuan TL, Cantley LC (2008) PI3K pathway alterations in cancer: variations on a theme. Oncogene 27(41):5497–5510. https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2008.245 doi: 10.1038/onc.2008.245. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Monaco G, van Dam S, Casal Novo Ribeiro JL et al (2015) A comparison of human and mouse gene co-expression networks reveals conservation and divergence at the tissue, pathway and disease levels. BMC Evol Biol 15:259. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-015-0534-7 doi: 10.1186/s12862-015-0534-7. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Tsai KW, Tarn WY, Lin WC (2007) Wobble splicing reveals the role of the branch point sequence-to-NAGNAG region in 3′ tandem splice site selection. Mol Cell Biol 27(16):5835–5848. https://doi.org/10.1128/MCB.00363-07 doi: 10.1128/MCB.00363-07. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Garanto A, Collin RWJ (2018) Design and in vitro use of antisense oligonucleotides to correct pre-mRNA splicing defects in inherited retinal dystrophies. Methods Mol Biol 1715:61–78. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7522-8_5 doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-7522-8_5. [DOI] [PubMed]
- Garanto A, Chung DC, Duijkers L et al (2016) In vitro and in vivo rescue of aberrant splicing in CEP290-associated LCA by antisense oligonucleotide delivery. Hum Mol Genet 25(12):2552–2563. https://doi.org/10.1093/hmg/ddw118 doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddw118. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Parfitt DA, Cheetham ME (2016) Targeting the proteostasis network in rhodopsin retinitis pigmentosa. Adv Exp Med Biol 854:479–484. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17121-0_64 doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-17121-0_64. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Lopes-Ramos CM, Paulson JN, Chen CY et al (2017) Regulatory network changes between cell lines and their tissues of origin. BMC Genomics 18(1):723. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-017-4111-x doi: 10.1186/s12864-017-4111-x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Jiang Z, Cote J, Kwon JM et al (2000) Aberrant splicing of tau pre-mRNA caused by intronic mutations associated with the inherited dementia frontotemporal dementia with parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17. Mol Cell Biol 20(11):4036–4048. https://doi.org/10.1128/mcb.20.11.4036-4048.2000 doi: 10.1128/mcb.20.11.4036-4048.2000. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Sangermano R, Khan M, Cornelis SS et al (2018) ABCA4 midigenes reveal the full splice spectrum of all reported noncanonical splice site variants in Stargardt disease. Genome Res 28(1):100–110. https://doi.org/10.1101/gr.226621.117 doi: 10.1101/gr.226621.117. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Roopenian DC, Christianson GJ, Sproule TJ et al (2003) The MHC class I-like IgG receptor controls perinatal IgG transport, IgG homeostasis, and fate of IgG-Fc-coupled drugs. J Immunol 170(7):3528–3533. https://doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.170.7.3528 doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.170.7.3528. [DOI] [PubMed]
- Petkova SB, Akilesh S, Sproule TJ et al (2006) Enhanced half-life of genetically engineered human IgG1 antibodies in a humanized FcRn mouse model: potential application in humorally mediated autoimmune disease. Int Immunol 18(12):1759–1769. https://doi.org/10.1093/intimm/dxl110 doi: 10.1093/intimm/dxl110. [DOI] [PubMed]
- Roopenian DC, Akilesh S (2007) FcRn: the neonatal Fc receptor comes of age. Nat Rev Immunol 7(9):715–725. https://doi.org/10.1038/nri2155 doi: 10.1038/nri2155. [DOI] [PubMed]
- Zalevsky J, Chamberlain AK, Horton HM et al (2010) Enhanced antibody half-life improves in vivo activity. Nat Biotechnol 28(2):157–159. https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.1601 doi: 10.1038/nbt.1601. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Stein C, Kling L, Proetzel G et al (2012) Clinical chemistry of human FcRn transgenic mice. Mamm Genome 23(3–4):259–269. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00335-011-9379-6 doi: 10.1007/s00335-011-9379-6. [DOI] [PubMed]
- Ward ES, Ober RJ (2009) Chapter 4: multitasking by exploitation of intracellular transport functions the many faces of FcRn. Adv Immunol 103:77–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2776(09)03004-1 doi: 10.1016/S0065-2776(09)03004-1. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Chappell AE, Gaus HJ, Berdeja A et al (2020) Mechanisms of palmitic acid-conjugated antisense oligonucleotide distribution in mice. Nucleic Acids Res 48:4382. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkaa164 doi: 10.1093/nar/gkaa164. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- LaVail MM, Nishikawa S, Steinberg RH et al (2018) Phenotypic characterization of P23H and S334ter rhodopsin transgenic rat models of inherited retinal degeneration. Exp Eye Res 167:56–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exer.2017.10.023 doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2017.10.023. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Gorbatyuk MS, Knox T, LaVail MM et al (2010) Restoration of visual function in P23H rhodopsin transgenic rats by gene delivery of BiP/Grp78. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 107(13):5961–5966. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0911991107 doi: 10.1073/pnas.0911991107. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Olsson JE, Gordon JW, Pawlyk BS et al (1992) Transgenic mice with a rhodopsin mutation (Pro23His): a mouse model of autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa. Neuron 9(5):815–830. https://doi.org/10.1016/0896-6273(92)90236-7 doi: 10.1016/0896-6273(92)90236-7. [DOI] [PubMed]
- Lewin AS, Drenser KA, Hauswirth WW et al (1998) Ribozyme rescue of photoreceptor cells in a transgenic rat model of autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa. Nat Med 4(8):967–971. https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0898-967 doi: 10.1038/nm0898-967. [DOI] [PubMed]
- Mao H, James T Jr, Schwein A et al (2011) AAV delivery of wild-type rhodopsin preserves retinal function in a mouse model of autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa. Hum Gene Ther 22(5):567–575. https://doi.org/10.1089/hum.2010.140 doi: 10.1089/hum.2010.140. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Frederick JM, Krasnoperova NV, Hoffmann K et al (2001) Mutant rhodopsin transgene expression on a null background. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 42(3):826–833 [PubMed]
- Orhan E, Dalkara D, Neuille M et al (2015) Genotypic and phenotypic characterization of P23H line 1 rat model. PLoS One 10(5):e0127319. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127319 doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0127319. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Murray SF, Jazayeri A, Matthes MT et al (2015) Allele-specific inhibition of rhodopsin with an antisense oligonucleotide slows photoreceptor cell degeneration. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 56(11):6362–6375. https://doi.org/10.1167/iovs.15-16400 doi: 10.1167/iovs.15-16400. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Wurster CD, Ludolph AC (2018) Antisense oligonucleotides in neurological disorders. Ther Adv Neurol Disord 11:1756286418776932. https://doi.org/10.1177/1756286418776932 doi: 10.1177/1756286418776932. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Wu B, Wang M, Shah S et al (2018) In vivo evaluation of dystrophin exon skipping in mdx mice. Methods Mol Biol 1828:231–247. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8651-4_14 doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-8651-4_14. [DOI] [PubMed]
- Goyenvalle A, Vulin A, Fougerousse F et al (2004) Rescue of dystrophic muscle through U7 snRNA-mediated exon skipping. Science 306(5702):1796–1799. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1104297 doi: 10.1126/science.1104297. [DOI] [PubMed]
- Fletcher S, Honeyman K, Fall AM et al (2007) Morpholino oligomer-mediated exon skipping averts the onset of dystrophic pathology in the mdx mouse. Mol Ther 15(9):1587–1592. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mt.6300245 doi: 10.1038/sj.mt.6300245. [DOI] [PubMed]
- Wu B, Lu P, Cloer C et al (2012) Long-term rescue of dystrophin expression and improvement in muscle pathology and function in dystrophic mdx mice by peptide-conjugated morpholino. Am J Pathol 181(2):392–400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajpath.2012.04.006 doi: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2012.04.006. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- t Hoen PA, de Meijer EJ, Boer JM et al (2008) Generation and characterization of transgenic mice with the full-length human DMD gene. J Biol Chem 283(9):5899–5907. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M709410200 doi: 10.1074/jbc.M709410200. [DOI] [PubMed]
- Veltrop M, van Vliet L, Hulsker M et al (2018) A dystrophic Duchenne mouse model for testing human antisense oligonucleotides. PLoS One 13(2):e0193289. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193289 doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0193289. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Coppieters F, Lefever S, Leroy BP et al (2010) CEP290, a gene with many faces: mutation overview and presentation of CEP290base. Hum Mutat 31(10):1097–1108. https://doi.org/10.1002/humu.21337 doi: 10.1002/humu.21337. [DOI] [PubMed]
