Genome editing-enabled HTS assays expand drug target pathways for Charcot-Marie-tooth disease

ACS Chem Biol. 2014 Nov 21;9(11):2594-602. doi: 10.1021/cb5005492. Epub 2014 Sep 16.

Abstract

Copy number variation resulting in excess PMP22 protein causes the peripheral neuropathy Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, type 1A. To broadly interrogate chemically sensitive transcriptional pathways controlling PMP22 protein levels, we used the targeting precision of TALEN-mediated genome editing to embed reporters within the genetic locus harboring the Peripheral Myelin Protein 22 (Pmp22) gene. Using a Schwann cell line with constitutively high endogenous levels of Pmp22, we obtained allelic insertion of secreted bioluminescent reporters with sufficient signal to enable a 1536-well assay. Our findings from the quantitative high-throughput screening (qHTS) of several thousand drugs and clinically investigated compounds using this assay design both overlapped and expanded results from a previous assay using a randomly inserted reporter gene controlled by a single regulatory element of the Pmp22 gene. A key difference was the identification of a kinase-controlled inhibitory pathway of Pmp22 transcription revealed by the activity of the Protein kinase C (PKC)-modulator bryostatin.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural

MeSH terms

  • Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease / genetics*
  • Genome, Human*
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
  • Humans