Biology subjects

Murtha, R.

Publications and source records attributed to Murtha, R..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Somatic CRISPR editing of Msh3 mitigates Huntington's disease pathology in mice

Huntingtons disease (HD) is a fatal, dominantly inherited neurodegenerative disorder caused by a CAG repeat expansion in Huntingtin (HTT) exon 1. Further progressive CAG repeat expansion occurs in somatic cells, particularly in neurons, and drives the timing of clinical onset. Therefore, therapeutic strategies to slow somatic expansion are predicted to be disease-modifying. Somatic CAG expansion is driven by mismatch repair protein MSH3, a leading therapeutic target supported by human genetic data. To gain insight into the impact of targeting MSH3 at different stages of the disease process we used somatic CRISPR-Cas9 editing to knock out Msh3 in HttQ111 mice at ages of 6, 16, 24 weeks exhibiting progressively increasing somatic expansion. Intervention at all three ages slowed striatal CAG expansion, reduced nuclear huntingtin pathology and suppressed transcriptional dysregulation, with earlier intervention having greater impact. Msh3 knockout also suppressed the production of the exon 1 Htt1a transcript. The results of our study provide important preclinical information relevant to an MSH3 therapeutic in humans that would be expected to impact a subset of cells in the brain, provide insight into the influence of timing of intervention on therapeutic effectiveness and deepen our understanding of how targeting MSH3 could alter the trajectory of HD.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2025

Huntington's disease LIG1 modifier variant increases ligase fidelity and suppresses somatic CAG repeat expansion

Huntingtons disease (HD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder caused by inheriting an expanded CAG repeat tract in the huntingtin gene (HTT) that further expands in somatic cells over an individuals lifetime. Genome-wide association studies have provided critical insight into factors that modify the course of disease. These include DNA repair genes that alter the rate of somatic expansion and other genes that do not appear to directly influence this process. One modifier gene is DNA ligase 1 (LIG1), in which a variant specifying a lysine to asparagine substitution (K845N) is associated with a profound (7-8 year) delay in the onset of motor signs. Here, we have taken a multifaceted approach to gain insight into the protective nature of this variant in HD. We demonstrate using in vitro ligase assays and enzyme kinetics that K845N enhances discrimination towards mismatched substrates and increases repair fidelity. Consistent with increased ligation fidelity, K845N confers protection against oxidative stress in cell-based assays. Finally, we demonstrate that the mouse LIG1 K843N orthologue suppresses somatic CAG expansion in HD knock-in mice. Overall, our data provide evidence that altered LIG1 function due to the K845N substitution may contribute to HD clinical delay by slowing somatic expansion in the brain and protecting the genome globally against damage. Significantly, our results provide a mechanistic foundation for considering DNA ligase fidelity as a therapeutic target in HD and potentially in other trinucleotide repeat disorders. Significance StatementWe analyzed a missense variant in DNA Ligase 1 (K845N) that is associated with a profound delay in the onset of Huntingtons disease (HD). We find that K845N enhances substrate discrimination towards mismatched substrates, thus increasing repair fidelity, conferring protection against oxidative stress and slows somatic expansion of the HD CAG repeat. Our observations provide insight into underlying mechanisms of disease modification and suggest avenues that can be harnessed for disease-modifying therapeutic intervention. Classification: Biological Sciences, Genetics

genetics↗

bioRxiv2024

Identification of genetic modifiers of Huntington's disease somatic CAG repeat instability by in vivo CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing

Huntingtons disease (HD), one of >50 inherited repeat expansion disorders (Depienne and Mandel, 2021), is a dominantly-inherited neurodegenerative disease caused by a CAG expansion in HTT (The Huntingtons Disease Collaborative Research Group, 1993). Inherited CAG repeat length is the primary determinant of age of onset, with human genetic studies underscoring that the property driving disease is the CAG length-dependent propensity of the repeat to further expand in brain (Swami et al., 2009; GeM-HD, 2015; Hensman Moss et al., 2017; Ciosi et al., 2019; GeM-HD, 2019; Hong et al., 2021). Routes to slowing somatic CAG expansion therefore hold great promise for disease-modifying therapies. Several DNA repair genes, notably in the mismatch repair (MMR) pathway, modify somatic expansion in HD mouse models (Wheeler and Dion, 2021). To identify novel modifiers of somatic expansion, we have used CRISPR-Cas9 editing in HD knock-in mice to enable in vivo screening of expansion-modifier candidates at scale. This has included testing of HD onset modifier genes emerging from human genome-wide association studies (GWAS), as well as interactions between modifier genes, thereby providing new insight into pathways underlying CAG expansion and potential therapeutic targets.

genetics↗