Farrar, G. J. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2020

Modelling and rescue of RP2 Retinitis Pigmentosa using iPSC Derived Retinal Organoids

RP2 mutations cause a severe form of X-linked retinitis pigmentosa (XLRP). The mechanism of RP2 associated retinal degeneration in humans is unclear, and animal models of RP2 XLRP do not recapitulate this severe phenotype. Here, we developed gene edited isogenic RP2 knock-out (RP2 KO) induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) and RP2 patient derived iPSC to produce 3D retinal organoids as a human retinal disease model. Strikingly, the RP2 KO and RP2 patient derived organoids showed a peak in rod photoreceptor cell death at day 150 (D150) with subsequent thinning of the organoid outer nuclear layer (ONL) by D180 of culture. AAV mediated gene augmentation with human RP2 rescued the degeneration phenotype of the RP2 KO organoids, to prevent ONL thinning and restore rhodopsin expression. Notably, these data show that 3D retinal organoids can be used to model photoreceptor degeneration and test potential therapies to prevent photoreceptor cell death.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2019

Resolving the dark matter of ABCA4 for 1,054 Stargardt disease probands through integrated genomics and transcriptomics

Missing heritability in human diseases represents a major challenge. Although whole-genome sequencing enables the analysis of coding and non-coding sequences, substantial costs and data storage requirements hamper its large-scale use to (re)sequence genes in genetically unsolved cases. The ABCA4 gene implicated in Stargardt disease (STGD1) has been studied extensively for 22 years, but thousands of cases remained unsolved. Therefore, single molecule molecular inversion probes were designed that enabled an automated and cost-effective sequence analysis of the complete 128-kb ABCA4 gene. Analysis of 1,054 unsolved STGD and STGD-like probands resulted in bi-allelic variations in 448 probands. Twenty-seven different causal deep-intronic variants were identified in 117 alleles. Based on in vitro splice assays, the 13 novel causal deep-intronic variants were found to result in pseudo-exon (PE) insertions (n=10) or exon elongations (n=3). Intriguingly, intron 13 variants c.1938-621G>A and c.1938-514G>A resulted in dual PE insertions consisting of the same upstream, but different downstream PEs. The intron 44 variant c.6148-84A>T resulted in two PE insertions that were accompanied by flanking exon deletions. Structural variant analysis revealed 11 distinct deletions, two of which contained small inverted segments. Uniparental isodisomy of chromosome 1 was identified in one proband. Integrated complete gene sequencing combined with transcript analysis, identified pathogenic deep-intronic and structural variants in 26% of bi-allelic cases not solved previously by sequencing of coding regions. This strategy serves as a model study that can be applied to other inherited diseases in which only one or a few genes are involved in the majority of cases.

genetics↗