Cystic fibrosis (CF) animal models have contributed significantly to understanding the mechanism of underlying disease. However, existing CF animal models have their limitations, either because the animal models fail to reproduce human phenotypes or because the animal models have very high maintenance costs and need specialized care. In addition, lacking good ?F508CFTR animal model results in poor understanding the pathogenesis of the most common mutation in CF patients and halts CF drug discovery. Using CRISPR/Cas9 we have developed the first rabbit with the disruption of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). Initial work on CFTR knockout rabbits (CFTR-/-) revealed lung pathology that is similar to that in human CF patients. In this application, we will test:
Aim 1, generate rabbits carrying ?F508 mutation (CFTR?F508/?F508) in CFTR locus;
Aim 2, generate gut-corrected CFTR?F508/?F508 rabbits (TgCFTR-CFTR?F508/?F508);
and Aim 3, characterize CFTR?F508/?F508 rabbits. The success of proposed work will provide an animal model for understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms, accelerating CF drug discovery and testing the efficacy of new drugs.
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common life-threatening monogenetic disease. The majority of human CF patients (>70%) carry the ?F508 mutation in the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. We propose to develop ?F508CFTR rabbits, which allow us to study CF pathology, and facilitate the development of therapeutic strategies for the disease.
| Hou, Xia; Wei, Hongguang; Rajagopalan, Carthic et al. (2018) Dissection of the Role of VIMP in Endoplasmic Reticulum-Associated Degradation of CFTR?F508. Sci Rep 8:4764 |
| Hou, Xia; Yang, Zhao; Zhang, Kezhong et al. (2017) SUMOylation represses the transcriptional activity of the Unfolded Protein Response transducer ATF6. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 494:446-451 |
