Therapeutic approaches for pulmonary hypertension in patients with chronic kidney disease.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Pulmonary hypertension is a common comorbidity in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), but therapeutic options are limited. We discuss the epidemiology of pulmonary hypertension in patients with CKD and review therapies for pulmonary hypertension with a focus on emerging treatments for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). RECENT FINDINGS: The definition of pulmonary hypertension has been updated to a lower threshold of mean pulmonary artery pressures of more than 20 mmHg, potentially leading to more patients with CKD to qualify for the diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension. Endothelin receptor antagonists, a class of medications, which demonstrated efficacy in patients with PAH, have been shown to slow progression of CKD, but their efficacy in lowering pulmonary artery pressures and their effects on reducing cardiovascular mortality in this population remains unproven. Sotatercept, a novel activin signaling inhibitor, which was previously studied in dialysis patients has been shown to increase exercise capacity in patients with PAH. These studies may lead to new specific therapies for pulmonary hypertension in patients with CKD. SUMMARY: Pulmonary hypertension is common in patients with CKD. Although our understanding of factors leading to pulmonary hypertension in this population have evolved, evidence supporting disease-specific therapy in CKD is limited arguing for larger, long-term studies.

An enhanced CRISPR repressor for targeted mammalian gene regulation.

The RNA-guided endonuclease Cas9 can be converted into a programmable transcriptional repressor, but inefficiencies in target-gene silencing have limited its utility. Here we describe an improved Cas9 repressor based on the C-terminal fusion of a rationally designed bipartite repressor domain, KRAB-MeCP2, to nuclease-dead Cas9. We demonstrate the system's superiority in silencing coding and noncoding genes, simultaneously repressing a series of target genes, improving the results of single and dual guide RNA library screens, and enabling new architectures of synthetic genetic circuits.

Precise Cas9 targeting enables genomic mutation prevention.

Here, we present a generalized method of guide RNA "tuning" that enables Cas9 to discriminate between two target sites that differ by a single-nucleotide polymorphism. We employ our methodology to generate an in vivo mutation prevention system in which Cas9 actively restricts the occurrence of undesired gain-of-function mutations within a population of engineered organisms. We further demonstrate that the system is scalable to a multitude of targets and that the general tuning and prevention concepts are portable across engineered Cas9 variants and Cas9 orthologs. Finally, we show that the mutation prevention system maintains robust activity even when placed within the complex environment of the mouse gastrointestinal tract.

Comparison of Cas9 activators in multiple species.

Several programmable transcription factors exist based on the versatile Cas9 protein, yet their relative potency and effectiveness across various cell types and species remain unexplored. Here, we compare Cas9 activator systems and examine their ability to induce robust gene expression in several human, mouse, and fly cell lines. We also explore the potential for improved activation through the combination of the most potent activator systems, and we assess the role of cooperativity in maximizing gene expression.

Cas9 gRNA engineering for genome editing, activation and repression.

We demonstrate that by altering the length of Cas9-associated guide RNA (gRNA) we were able to control Cas9 nuclease activity and simultaneously perform genome editing and transcriptional regulation with a single Cas9 protein. We exploited these principles to engineer mammalian synthetic circuits with combined transcriptional regulation and kill functions governed by a single multifunctional Cas9 protein.

Highly efficient Cas9-mediated transcriptional programming.

The RNA-guided nuclease Cas9 can be reengineered as a programmable transcription factor. However, modest levels of gene activation have limited potential applications. We describe an improved transcriptional regulator obtained through the rational design of a tripartite activator, VP64-p65-Rta (VPR), fused to nuclease-null Cas9. We demonstrate its utility in activating endogenous coding and noncoding genes, targeting several genes simultaneously and stimulating neuronal differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).

Epidemiology and Management of Patients With Kidney Disease and Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction.

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) comprises approximately one-half of all diagnoses of heart failure. There is significant overlap of this clinical syndrome with chronic kidney disease (CKD), with many shared comorbid conditions. The presence of CKD in patients with HFpEF is one of the most powerful risk factors for adverse clinical outcomes, including death and heart failure hospitalization. The pathophysiology linking HFpEF and CKD remains unclear, but it is postulated to consist of numerous bidirectional pathways, including endothelial dysfunction, inflammation, obesity, insulin resistance, and impaired sodium handling. The diagnosis of HFpEF requires certain criteria to be satisfied, including signs and symptoms consistent with volume overload caused by structural or functional cardiac abnormalities and evidence of increased cardiac filling pressures. There are numerous overlapping metabolic clinical syndromes in patients with HFpEF and CKD that can serve as targets for intervention. With an increasing number of therapies available for HFpEF and CKD as well as for obesity and diabetes, improved recognition and diagnosis are paramount for appropriate management and improved clinical outcomes in patients with both HFpEF and CKD.

Next stop for the CRISPR revolution: RNA-guided epigenetic regulators.

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) and CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins offer a breakthrough platform for cheap, programmable, and effective sequence-specific DNA targeting. The CRISPR-Cas system is naturally equipped for targeted DNA cutting through its native nuclease activity. As such, groups researching a broad spectrum of biological organisms have quickly adopted the technology with groundbreaking applications to genomic sequence editing in over 20 different species. However, the biological code of life is not only encoded in genetics but also in epigenetics as well. While genetic sequence editing is a powerful ability, we must also be able to edit and regulate transcriptional and epigenetic code. Taking inspiration from work on earlier sequence-specific targeting technologies such as zinc fingers (ZFs) and transcription activator-like effectors (TALEs), researchers quickly expanded the CRISPR-Cas toolbox to include transcriptional activation, repression, and epigenetic modification. In this review, we highlight advances that extend the CRISPR-Cas toolkit for transcriptional and epigenetic regulation, as well as best practice guidelines for these tools, and a perspective on future applications.