Accelerated Apoptosis and Down-Regulated FMRP in Human Neuroblastoma Cells with CRISPR/Cas9 Genome Editing
-
Rong Zhang
,
Huifen Xu
,
Jin Lu
,
Ying Chen
,
Yahui Zhang
,
Li Xiao
Abstract
Background: Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is a genetic disease with intellectual disabilities. FXS is often caused by the CGG-repeat expansion mutation in the FMR1 gene with suppressed FMR1 transcription and decreased protein levels in the brain of the patients. The RNA-guided CRISPR/Cas9 system is a promising targeted genomic editing tool in gene therapy of FXS. In order to evaluate its feasibility, the present study used CRISPR/Cas9 system to target the FMR1 5’-UTR sites in cultured human neuroblastoma cells.
Methods: PCR and DNA clone were used to construct plasmids. CRISPR function was tested by Western blot and flow cytometry. Data were analyzed by a two-tailed unpaired Student’s t-test using GraphPad software. This research was conducted from 2020 to 2022 in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
Results: Cell cycle analysis showed significant differences in G1, S and G2/M phases between the two groups (P<0.05). In the knockout cells, apoptosis was accelerated (P<0.05) with a significantly down-regulated (P<0.05) expression of FMRP as compared with the control group.
Conclusion: This study provides further understanding about the FMRP function and molecular mechanism of FMR1 gene in nerve cells, and suggests the feasibility of gene therapy in FXS by CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing system.
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| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 52 No 4 (2023) | |
| Section | Original Article(s) | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.18502/ijph.v52i4.12438 | |
| Keywords | ||
| Fragile X syndromes CRISPR associated protein 9 Gene editing | ||
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