Behavioral Efficacy of AAV FOXG1 Gene Replacement Therapy in a Mouse Model of FOXG1 Syndrome

Abstract

FOXG1 syndrome is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by microcephaly, profound intellectual disability with communication deficits including lack of speech, impaired social interaction, increased anxiety, hyperkinetic/dyskinetic movements, seizures and abnormal sleep patterns. Mutations in a single allele of the FOXG1 gene cause disease, likely due to loss-of-function. However, current therapies do not target this root cause of FOXG1 syndrome and have little to modest therapeutic benefit on only a small subset of symptoms. To date, the therapeutic potential of restoring FOXG1 levels in the brain with adeno-associated virus (AAV) FOXG1 gene replacement therapy has only been reported in a Foxg1fl/+;NexCre mouse model that lacks one Foxg1 allele but does not express mutant FOXG1, and with only neuroanatomical endpoints evaluated. Here, in a FOXG1 mouse model that contains a highly prevalent, patient-specific Q84P mutation, we describe the beneficial effects of AAV human FOXG1 gene replacement therapy administered by intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection at postnatal day 6 (P6) on several behavioral deficits that are relevant to key features of human FOXG1 syndrome. Our studies demonstrate that AAV FOXG1 gene replacement therapy is a promising approach for the treatment of a subset of functional deficits in human FOXG1 syndrome.