Somatic Editing of Ldlr With Adeno-Associated Viral-CRISPR Is an Efficient Tool for Atherosclerosis Research.
Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol
; 38(9): 1997-2006, 2018 09.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-30026278
ABSTRACT
Objective- Atherosclerosis studies in Ldlr knockout mice require breeding to homozygosity and congenic status on C57BL6/J background, a process that is both time and resource intensive. We aimed to develop a new method for generating atherosclerosis through somatic deletion of Ldlr in livers of adult mice. Approach and Results- Overexpression of PCSK9 (proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9) is currently used to study atherosclerosis, which promotes degradation of LDLR (low-density lipoprotein receptor) in the liver. We sought to determine whether CRISPR/Cas9 (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-associated 9) could also be used to generate atherosclerosis through genetic disruption of Ldlr in adult mice. We engineered adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors expressing Staphylococcus aureus Cas9 and a guide RNA targeting the Ldlr gene (AAV-CRISPR). Both male and female mice received either (1) saline, (2) AAV-CRISPR, or (3) AAV-hPCSK9 (human PCSK9)-D374Y. A fourth group of germline Ldlr-KO mice was included for comparison. Mice were placed on a Western diet and followed for 20 weeks to assess plasma lipids, PCSK9 protein levels, atherosclerosis, and editing efficiency. Disruption of Ldlr with AAV-CRISPR was robust, resulting in severe hypercholesterolemia and atherosclerotic lesions in the aorta. AAV-hPCSK9 also produced hypercholesterolemia and atherosclerosis as expected. Notable sexual dimorphism was observed, wherein AAV-CRISPR was superior for Ldlr removal in male mice, while AAV-hPCSK9 was more effective in female mice. Conclusions- This all-in-one AAV-CRISPR vector targeting Ldlr is an effective and versatile tool to model atherosclerosis with a single injection and provides a useful alternative to the use of germline Ldlr-KO mice.
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Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Receptores de LDL
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Modelos Animais de Doenças
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Aterosclerose
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Repetições Palindrômicas Curtas Agrupadas e Regularmente Espaçadas
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Vetores Genéticos
Tipo de estudo:
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol
Assunto da revista:
ANGIOLOGIA
Ano de publicação:
2018
Tipo de documento:
Article