Application of the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing approach for the correction of the p.Gly2019Ser (c.6055G>A) LRRK2 variant in Parkinson Disease.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the most common long-term degenerative disorders that affect the nervous system. Clinical symptoms are bradykinesia, resting tremor and postural imbalance due to the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta. Heterozygous mutations in the Leucine Rich Repeat Kinase 2 gene (LRRK2) have been identified both in familial and sporadic cases of PD. The most common variant is the p.Gly2019Ser substitution (c.6055G>A). To date there is no effective treatment available. The genome editing tool CRISPR/Cas9 has recently transformed the field of biotechnology and biomedical discovery, posing the basis for the development of innovative treatments. Using CRISPR/Cas9 technology and Homology Directed Repair, our project aims to validate gene editing as an alternative therapeutic approach for PD through the genetic correction of the pathogenic p.Gly2019Ser LRRK2 mutation restoring the wild-type sequence both in human and mouse models. Specifically, we tested various strategies, based on the CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing technique, for the correction of LRRK2 p.Gly2019Ser (c.6055G>A) variant in primary mouse and human fibroblasts with promising results. If the correction experiments in in vitro models will confirm the good efficiency of the approach, these experiments will represent a fundamental step for the subsequent evaluation of the potential of gene therapy for the treatment of PD as well as other brain disorders for which no therapy is currently available.