Publications by authors named "Christa L De Winter"

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is caused by the lack of functional dystrophin protein, most commonly as a result of a range of out-of-frame mutations in the DMD gene. Modulation of pre-mRNA splicing with antisense oligonucleotides (AOs) to restore the reading frame has been demonstrated in vitro and in vivo, such that truncated but functional dystrophin is expressed. AO-induced skipping of exon 51 of the DMD gene, which could treat 13% of DMD patients, has now progressed to clinical trials.

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Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a severe muscle-wasting disease caused by frame shifting and nonsense mutations in the dystrophin gene. Through skipping of an (additional) exon from the pre-mRNA, the reading frame can be restored. This can be achieved with antisense oligonucleotides (AONs), which induce exon skipping by binding to splice sites or splice enhancer sites.

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Background: Antisense-mediated exon skipping is a putative treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Using antisense oligonucleotides (AONs), the disrupted DMD reading frame is restored, allowing generation of partially functional dystrophin and conversion of a severe Duchenne into a milder Becker muscular dystrophy phenotype. In vivo studies are mainly performed using 2'-O-methyl phosphorothioate (2OMePS) or morpholino (PMO) AONs.

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Background: The specific skipping of an exon, induced by antisense oligonucleotides (AON) during splicing, has shown to be a promising therapeutic approach for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients. As different mutations require skipping of different exons, this approach is mutation dependent. The skipping of an entire stretch of exons (e.

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Article Synopsis
  • Antisense oligonucleotides (AONs) can affect mRNA processing by causing degradation, stopping translation, or changing splicing patterns, depending on their design and properties.
  • A study of 156 AONs aimed at modifying the dystrophin transcript found that successful AONs had higher guanine-cytosine content and stronger binding energies, and were closer to splice sites compared to ineffective ones.
  • The research identified key factors that contribute to AON effectiveness, enabling a classification accuracy of 79%, and offers guidelines for future AON design to enhance splice modulation.
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As small molecule drugs for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), antisense oligonucleotides (AONs) have been shown to restore the disrupted reading frame of DMD transcripts by inducing specific exon skipping. This allows the synthesis of largely functional dystrophin proteins and potential conversion of severe DMD into milder Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) phenotypes. We have previously described 37 exon-internal AONs that induce skipping of 14 DMD exons in human control myotube cultures.

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