Human neurons from Christianson syndrome iPSCs reveal allele-specific responses to rescue strategies

Sofia B. Lizarraga, Abbie M. Maguire, Li Ma, Laura I. van Dyck, Qing Wu, Dipal Nagda, Liane L. Livi, Matthew F. Pescosolido, Michael Schmidt, Shanique Alabi, Mara H. Cowen, Paul Brito-Vargas, Diane Hoffman-Kim, Ece D. Gamsiz Uzun, Avner Schlessinger, Richard N. Jones, Morrow EM
2018 · doi:10.1101/444232
preprint OA: closed
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Abstract

Human genetic disorders provide a powerful lens to understanding the human brain. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) represent an important, new resource for mechanistic studies and therapeutic development. Christianson syndrome (CS), an X-linked neurological disorder with attenuation of brain growth postnatally (postnatal microcephaly), is caused by mutations in SLC9A6, the gene encoding endosomal Na + /H + exchanger 6 (NHE6). We developed CS iPSC lines from patients with a mutational spectrum, as well as robust biologically-related and isogenic controls. We demonstrate that mutations in CS lead to loss of protein function by a variety of mechanisms. Regardless of mutation, all patient-derived neurons demonstrate reduced neurite growth and arborization, likely underlying diminished postnatal brain growth in patients. Additionally, phenotype rescue strategies show allele-specific responses: a gene replacement strategy shows efficacy in nonsense mutations but not in a missense mutation, whereas application of exogenous trophic factors (BDNF or IGF-1) rescues arborization phenotypes across all mutations. Our data emphasize the important principle of personalized medicine whereby success of some therapeutic strategies may be more linked to patient genotype than others.

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