Efficient LAMA1 Gene Activation by Epigenome Editing as a Therapeutic Approach for LAMA2-CMD

Epigenome editing technology holds great promise for treating diverse genetic disorders. In this study, we demonstrate epigenetic activation of the LAMA1 gene for the treatment of LAMA2-CMD, a severe congenital muscle dystrophy (CMD) caused by biallelic mutations in the LAMA2 gene. LAMA1 is a sister homolog that is known to compensate for the function of LAMA2. However, supplementing LAMA1 or LAMA2 gene via viral platform is not feasible due to the large size of their coding sequences. Through a single administration of our adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector encoding all the necessary elements for epigenetic activation, we observed significant LAMA1 gene upregulation and phenotype improvements in mouse disease models. The muscle-tropic AAV capsid exhibited desired vector biodistribution and promising pharmacodynamics with good safety profiles in 2-year-old juvenile nonhuman primates (NHPs). Moreover, administration to 8-month-old infant NHPs demonstrated superior pharmacodynamics compared with 2-year-old juveniles, even at half the dose. Our approach holds broad applicability for a range of loss-of-function genetic disorders and could offer a therapeutic breakthrough where active epigenome offers clinical benefit.