Targeting the drivers of disease with gene therapy

Exploring the potential to edit genes as a therapeutic for 慢性 和 罕见的 疾病

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什么是基因疗法?

基因治疗是一种相对较新的治疗方法,有可能通过编辑导致疾病的基因来改变甚至治愈疾病.

Sometimes at birth, a whole gene, or part of one, is missing. 其他时间, 在人的一生中, genes that were once healthy can mutate 和 become defective. 取决于具体的问题, it is now possible to use gene therapy to treat a disease by directly 修复 基因在基因组中或通过 交付 an additional copy of the missing gene to express a protein with therapeutic benefits.



Our strategies in gene therapy are two-fold; we leverage CRISPR gene editing techniques to repair broken genes 和 use adeno-associated viruses (AAV) to deliver therapeutic proteins, 新的基因拷贝, 或者生物疗法——希望为罕见或慢性疾病提供长期治疗.




什么是CRISPR?


CRISPR is a breakthrough approach to editing genetic material in living organisms. 其核心是, CRISPR就像分子剪刀,可以用来精确地剪切和修改感兴趣的DNA序列. 准确的, 可编程和适应性强, 这项技术已被广泛应用于生物和澳门葡京赌博游戏研究的几个领域.

CRISPR systems contain two components: the molecular scissors (an enzyme, 传统上是spCas9)和引导RNA (gRNA), gRNA将酶“引导”到需要修复的基因组部分. 除了将CRISPR用于基因治疗之外,澳门葡京赌博游戏还在探索它帮助创造的潜力 细胞疗法.



CRISPR is the most exciting life science discovery in the last decade. It allows us to identify 和 validate new targets for medicine discovery, 作为一种药物,澳门葡京赌博游戏可以编辑基因来治疗甚至治愈许多遗传疾病.

史蒂夫•里斯 SVP, Discovery Sciences, 澳门葡京赌博游戏 R&D、澳门葡京网赌游戏


构建CRISPR工具箱


在过去的几年里, 澳门葡京赌博游戏已经成功地开始构建澳门葡京赌博游戏的CRISPR工具箱——一系列创新工具,如CRISPR GUARD,1 CRISPR体内2 和DISCOVER-Seq.3 这些工具有助于确定CRISPR如何在临床中用作精确有效的基因治疗.



最近, 澳门葡京赌博游戏的CRISPR工具箱已经发展壮大,增加了三种新的工具和技术,这些工具和技术有可能进一步提高基于CRISPR的药物的功效和精度:主要编辑核酸酶(PEn)技术, 2 ihdr, 和准确的 (PsCas9).

Prime Editor核酸酶(PEn)

In 2022, 澳门葡京赌博游戏的科学家开发了Prime Editor核酸酶(PEn)技术,可以通过多个双链DNA修复途径有效地引入精确的基因插入. In addition to enhancing the efficiency of generating insertions, editing with PEn leads to a reduction of unwanted large deletions, reducing the frequency of off-target effects. This new gene editing approach drives efficient genetic insertions, with a reduced risk of unwanted edits, advancing the potential for therapeutic use.4


2 ihdr

Our scientists have developed a strategy called 2 ihdr, 它旨在通过抑制两种基因修复途径——非同源末端连接(NHEJ)和微同源介导的末端连接(MMEJ)——来提高基因编辑的成功率,这两种途径可能导致不精确的基因编辑. Using a combination of two inhibitors, 澳门葡京赌博游戏可以大大提高CRISPR基因编辑的效率,同时降低脱靶效应的风险. This strategy holds great promise for both cell therapies 和 gene therapy.5

准确的

澳门葡京赌博游戏一直在努力改进澳门葡京赌博游戏的CRISPR技术,以治疗和潜在地治愈遗传疾病. 为此目的, our scientists have developed an enhanced CRISPR system that utilises an engineered enzyme, 准确的. This enzyme cuts DNA with similar efficiency to the traditional enzyme, SpCas9, with enhanced specificity for the target site in the genome. In a proof-of-concept pre-clinical study of hypercholesterolemia, 准确的 successfully targeted the PCSK9 gene, resulting in reduced plasma levels of the associated PCSK9 protein. This recent research emphasises the increasing safety features being built into CRISPR, making it more amenable to therapeutic applications 和 applying these 在活的有机体内 第一次.6


通过使用2 ihdr改变DNA修复途径,并利用准确的利用高度特异性的Cas9变体, we can achieve targeted genetic modifications with enhanced precision 和 efficacy, driving further advancements in the field.

桑德拉Wimberger Senior Scientist, Discovery Sciences, 澳门葡京赌博游戏 R&D、澳门葡京网赌游戏



What are adeno-associated viruses (AAVs)?

腺相关病毒(aav)是自然产生的病毒,能够进入体内许多不同类型的细胞. 重要的是,aav的行为不像典型的病毒,因为它们不会复制,也不会引起疾病. 所有的病毒, 包括装甲防护, are highly specialised to introduce genetic material into cells, making them ideal for their use as gene therapy. 因此,澳门葡京赌博游戏可以修改aav,为生活在其中的人提供长期的好处 罕见的慢性 疾病. 

There are two key ways we modify AAVs:

AAV内的DNA可以被改造,用编码健康人类基因或其他分子的DNA序列取代其病毒遗传物质. 这些其他分子可能是一种治疗性蛋白质,在体内通常不表达, 比如抗体药. 另外, 健康基因的合成形式可以被传递以补偿存在于遗传疾病中的缺陷拷贝的存在.

aav可以提供CRISPR基因编辑组件,然后纠正一个人自己的基因.


澳门葡京赌博游戏可以通过修饰外表面(称为衣壳)来引导aav将基因传递到特定的靶细胞,以提高其传递特性. By increasing the selectivity for the intended target cells 和 avoiding other cells, we can optimise both safety 和 efficacy.


Across our therapeutic programmes we are progressing novel AAVs targeting to the liver, 以及在内部和与合作者建立澳门葡京赌博游戏的能力,使用aav治疗心脏等其他器官的疾病, 肺, 肌肉和大脑.

朱莉杜思韦特 Principal Scientist, In Vivo Expressed Biologics, Discovery Sciences, 澳门葡京赌博游戏 R&D、澳门葡京网赌游戏


Working together to advance gene therapy

加入澳门葡京赌博游戏

澳门葡京赌博游戏欢迎, 有才华的科学家加入澳门葡京赌博游戏,开发新药,这些新药有可能提供医疗保健体验和结果,使人们能够享受充实的生活. 澳门葡京赌博游戏在开发尖端基因疗法方面处于有利地位,以解决与重大未满足需求相关的一系列遗传疾病. By giving our people the resources 和 support to push the boundaries of science, we are going beyond the ordinary to help improve the lives of patients worldwide.

澳门葡京赌博游戏澳门葡京赌博游戏的进步感到自豪, prepared for the challenges that lie ahead, 并且相信基因疗法将有助于改善患有当今一些最严重和限制生命的疾病的患者的前景.
 


为成功而合作

澳门葡京赌博游戏与学术界合作, 政府, 同行的公司, 生物技术公司, scientific organisations 和 patient groups to access the best science. Our commitment to creating strong, 长期伙伴关系有助于澳门葡京赌博游戏加快向最需要的人提供创新和改变生活的药物. 






参考文献

1. 科埃略,M.A.De Braekeleer, E.弗斯,M. 等. CRISPR GUARD protects off-target sites from Cas9 nuclease activity using short guide RNAs. 自然科学11,4132 (2020). http://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17952-5.

2. 阿卡卡亚,皮纳尔,麦琪·L. 吉米·波宾. Guo, Jose Malagon-Lopez, Kendell Clement, Sara P. 加西亚,米克·D. 研究员,等等. 2018. “In Vivo CRISPR Editing with No Detectable Genome-Wide off-Target Mutations.Nature 561 (7723): 416-19.

3.  韦纳特,比克,斯塔西亚·K. 怀曼,克里斯托弗·D. 查尔斯·理查森. 是的,Pinar Akcakaya, Michelle J. Porritt, Michaela Morlock等人. 2019. “Unbiased Detection of CRISPR off-Targets in Vivo Using DISCOVER-Seq.科学364 (6437):286-89.

4. Peterka M, Akrap N, Li S,, Wimberger S, 等. Harnessing DSB repair to promote efficient homology-dependent 和 -independent prime editing. Nature Communications 2022; March 24th

5. Wimberger S, Akrap N, Firth M, 等. 同时抑制DNA-PK和Polϴ提高了基因组编辑的整合效率和精度. Nat Commun. 2023;14(1):4761. 2023年8月14日出版. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-40344-4

6. Bestas B.温伯格,S.Degtev, D. 等. 一种II-B型Cas9核酸酶,体内脱靶量最小,染色体易位减少. 政论14,5474 (2023). http://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41240-7


Veeva ID: Z4-54364
Date of preparation: September 2023