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Prevention of exercised induced cardiomyopathy following Pip-PMO treatment in dystrophic mdx mice

Authors: 
Betts CA, Saleh AF, Carr CA, Hammond SM, Coenen-Stass AM, Godfrey C, McClorey G, Varela MA, Roberts TC, Clarke K, Gait MJ, Wood MJ
Citation: 
Sci Rep. 2015 Mar 11;5:8986. doi: 10.1038/srep08986
Abstract: 
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a fatal neuromuscular disorder caused by mutations in the Dmd gene. In addition to skeletal muscle wasting, DMD patients develop cardiomyopathy, which significantly contributes to mortality. Antisense oligonucleotides (AOs) are a promising DMD therapy, restoring functional dystrophin protein by exon skipping. However, a major limitation with current AOs is the absence of dystrophin correction in heart. Pip peptide-AOs demonstrate high activity in cardiac muscle. To determine their therapeutic value, dystrophic mdx mice were subject to forced exercise to model the DMD cardiac phenotype. Repeated peptide-AO treatments resulted in high levels of cardiac dystrophin protein, which prevented the exercised induced progression of cardiomyopathy, normalising heart size as well as stabilising other cardiac parameters. Treated mice also exhibited significantly reduced cardiac fibrosis and improved sarcolemmal integrity. This work demonstrates that high levels of cardiac dystrophin restored by Pip peptide-AOs prevents further deterioration of cardiomyopathy and pathology following exercise in dystrophic DMD mice.
Epub: 
Not Epub
Organism or Cell Type: 
mice
Delivery Method: 
peptide-linked