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Spinal musküler atrofi (SMA), survival motor neuron (SMN1) genindeki delesyonlar veya mutasyonların neden olduğu otozomal resesif bir nöromusküler bir hastalıktır. Çocuk ölümlerinin en yaygın kalıtsal nedenidir. SMN1, tüm ökaryotik organizmaların genomunda tek kopya olarak bulunur. Genomik duplikasyon ile ikinci bir gen SMN2 insanlarda ortaya çıkmıştır. Hastaların yaklaşık %95’i SMN1 geninin ekzon 7’sinde homozigot delesyonlara sahiptir. Bundan dolayı SMN proteini yeterli miktarda üretilemez. SMN2, ekzon 7’deki sübstitüsyondan (C-T) dolayı küçük miktarda fonksiyonel SMN proteini üretir. SMA; başlangıç yaşı, motor gerilemenin şiddeti ve beklenen yaşam süresine göre beş tip (0-IV) olarak sınıflandırılmaktadır. Tip I (Werding-Hoffmann) en ciddi formudur ve özellikle yenidoğanları etkilemektedir. SMA hastalarındaki fenotipik değişkenlik, SMN2 geninin kopya sayısı ile ilişkilidir. SMN2’nin kopya sayısı hastalığın şiddeti ile korelasyon göstermektedir. SMN proteini, nöronal hücrelerde mRNA transportu, RNA metabolizması gibi anahtar düzenleyici rollere sahiptir. Günümüzde SMA tedavisi için ana hedef; küçük moleküller, oligonükleotidler ve gen replasmanı ile motor nöronlarda SMN seviyesini artırmaktır. SMA tedavisi için kök hücre çalışmaları da yapılmaktadır. FDA, 2016 yılından beri SMA tedavisi için üç yeni ilaç onayladı. Bu ilaçlar; nusinersen (oligonükleotit), onasemnogene abeparvovec xioi (gen replasmanı) ve risdiplam (SMN2 gen modülatörü)’dır. İlaçların etkililiğinde erken tanı önemli bir role sahiptir. SMN bağımlı terapötik yaklaşımlar presemptomatik olarak uygulandığında motor nöron disfonksiyonları reversible olabilir. Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive neuromuscular disease lead to by deletions or mutations in the survival motor neuron (SMN1) gene. SMA is the most common inherited cause of childhood mortality. SMN1 exists as a single copy in the genome of all eukaryotic organisms. Genomic duplication causes a second gene, SMN2 in humans. Approximately 95% of SMA patient has homozygous deletions in exon 7 of SMN1. Thus, SMN protein can’t be produced sufficiently. SMN2 produces a small amount functional SMN protein due to substitution (C-T) in exon 7. SMA is classfied into five types (0-IV) based on age of onset, severity of motor decline and life expectancy. Type I (Werding-Hoffmann) is the most severe and primarily affects infants. Phenotypic variability in SMA patients is also associated with the copy number of the SMN2 gene. The copy number of SMN2 correlates with the severity of the disease. The SMN protein has a key regulator roles such as mRNA transport, RNA metabolism in neuronal cells. Currently, the main target for SMA treatment is to increase SMN protein level in motor neuron cells with small molecules, oligonucleotides, and gene replacement. Stem cell studies are performed as well for SMA treatment. FDA has approved three drugs in the SMA treatment since 2016. These drugs are nusinersen (oligonucleotide), onasemnogene abeparvovec-xioi (gene therapy), and risdiplam (SMN2 gene modifier). Early diagnosis has important role in drugs efficacy. Motor neuron dysfunctions may be reversible when SMN-dependent therapeutic approaches can be applied presymptomatically.

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by survival motor neuron (SMN) protein deficiency which results in motor neuron loss and muscle atrophy. SMA is caused by a mutation or deletion of the survival motor neuron 1 (SMN1) gene and retention of the nearly identical SMN2 gene. SMN2 contains a C to T change in exon 7 that results in exon 7 exclusion from 90% of transcripts. SMN protein lacking exon 7 is unstable and rapidly degraded. The remaining full-length transcripts from SMN2 are insufficient for normal motor neuron function leading to the development of SMA. Three different therapeutic approaches that increase full-length SMN (FL-SMN) protein production are approved for treatment of SMA patients. Studies in both animal models and humans have demonstrated increasing SMN levels prior to onset of symptoms provides the greatest therapeutic benefit. Treatment of SMA, after some motor neuron loss has occurred, is also effective but to a lesser degree. The SMN∆7 mouse model is a well characterized model of severe or type 1 SMA, dying at 14 days of age. Here we treated three groups of ∆7SMA mice starting before, roughly during, and after symptom onset to determine if combining two mechanistically distinct SMN inducing therapies could improve the therapeutic outcome both before and after motor neuron loss. We found, compared with individual therapies, that morpholino antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) directed against ISS-N1 combined with the small molecule compound RG7800 significantly increased FL-SMN transcript and protein production resulting in improved survival and weight of ∆7SMA mice. Moreover, when give late symptomatically, motor unit function was completely rescued with no loss in function at 100 days of age in the dual treatment group. We have therefore shown that this dual therapeutic approach successfully increases SMN protein and rescues motor function in symptomatic ∆7SMA mice.

The development of therapeutics for neurological disorders is constrained by limited access to the central nervous system (CNS). ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, particularly P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP), are expressed on the luminal surface of capillaries in the CNS and transport drugs out of the endothelium back into the blood against the concentration gradient. Survival motor neuron (SMN) protein, which is deficient in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), is a target of the ubiquitin proteasome system. Inhibiting the proteasome in a rodent model of SMA with bortezomib increases SMN protein levels in peripheral tissues but not the CNS, because bortezomib has poor CNS penetrance. We sought to determine if we could inhibit SMN degradation in the CNS of SMA mice with a combination of bortezomib and the ABC transporter inhibitor tariquidar. In cultured cells we show that bortezomib is a substrate of P-gp. Mass spectrometry analysis demonstrated that intraperitoneal co-administration of tariquidar increased the CNS penetrance of bortezomib, and reduced proteasome activity in the brain and spinal cord. This correlated with increased SMN protein levels and improved survival and motor function of SMA mice. These findings show that CNS penetrance of treatment for this neurological disorder can be improved by inhibiting drug efflux at the blood–brain barrier.

Neurodegenerative disorders are commonly encountered in medical practices. Such diseases can lead to major morbidity and mortality among the affected individuals. The molecular pathogenesis of these disorders is not yet clear. Recent literature has revealed that mutations in RNA-binding proteins are a key cause of several human neuronal-based diseases. This review discusses the role of RNA metabolism in neurological diseases with specific emphasis on roles of RNA translation and microRNAs in neurodegeneration, RNA-mediated toxicity, repeat expansion diseases and RNA metabolism, molecular pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia, and neurobiology of survival motor neuron (SMN) and spinal muscular atrophy.

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are severe nervous system diseases characterized by the degeneration of lower motor neurons. They share a number of additional pathological, cellular, and genetic parallels suggesting that mechanistic and clinical insights into one disorder may have value for the other. While there are currently no clinical ALS gene therapies, the splice-switching antisense oligonucleotide, nusinersen, was recently approved for SMA. This milestone was achieved through extensive pre-clinical research and patient trials, which together have spawned fundamental insights into motor neuron gene therapy. We have thus tried to distil key information garnered from SMA research, in the hope that it may stimulate a more directed approach to ALS gene therapy. Not only must the type of therapeutic (e.g., antisense oligonucleotide vs. viral vector) be sensibly selected, but considerable thought must be applied to the where, which, what, and when in order to enhance treatment benefit: to where (cell types and tissues) must the drug be delivered and how can this be best achieved? Which perturbed pathways must be corrected and can they be concurrently targeted? What dosing regime and concentration should be used? When should medication be administered? These questions are intuitive, but central to identifying and optimizing a successful gene therapy. Providing definitive solutions to these quandaries will be difficult, but clear thinking about therapeutic testing is necessary if we are to have the best chance of developing viable ALS gene therapies and improving upon early generation SMA treatments.

Background: Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by the degeneration of alpha motor neurons in the spinal cord, leading to muscular atrophy. SMA is caused by deletions or mutations in the survival motor neuron 1 gene (SMN1). In humans, a nearly identical copy gene, SMN2, is present. Because SMN2 has been shown to decrease disease severity in a dose-dependent manner, SMN2 copy number is predictive of disease severity. Objective: To develop a treatment algorithm for SMA-positive infants identified through newborn screening based upon SMN2 copy number. Methods: A working group comprised of 15 SMA experts participated in a modified Delphi process, moderated by a neutral third-party expert, to develop treatment guidelines. Results: The overarching recommendation is that all infants with two or three copies of SMN2 should receive immediate treatment (n = 13). For those infants in which immediate treatment is not recommended, guidelines were developed that outline the timing and appropriate screens and tests to be used to determine the timing of treatment initiation. Conclusions: The identification SMA affected infants via newborn screening presents an unprecedented opportunity for achievement of maximal therapeutic benefit through the administration of treatment pre-symptomatically. The recommendations provided here are intended to help formulate treatment guidelines for infants who test positive during the newborn screening process.

This article belongs to the Special Issue Ubiquitin System., Spinal muscular atrophy is due to mutations affecting the SMN1 gene coding for the full-length protein (survival motor neuron; SMN) and the SMN2 gene that preferentially generates an exon 7-deleted protein (SMNΔ7) by alternative splicing. To study SMN and SMNΔ7 degradation in the cell, we have used tagged versions at the N- (Flag) or C-terminus (V5) of both proteins. Transfection of those constructs into HeLa cells and treatment with cycloheximide showed that those protein constructs were degraded. Proteasomal degradation usually requires prior lysine ubiquitylation. Surprisingly, lysine-less variants of both proteins tagged either at N- (Flag) or C-terminus (V5) were also degraded. The degradation of the endogenous SMN protein, and the protein constructs mentioned above, was mediated by the proteasome, as it was blocked by lactacystin, a specific and irreversible proteasomal inhibitor. The results obtained allowed us to conclude that SMN and SMNΔ7 proteasomal degradation did not absolutely require internal ubiquitylation nor N-terminal ubiquitylation (prevented by N-terminal tagging). While the above conclusions are firmly supported by the experimental data presented, we discuss and justify the need of deep proteomic techniques for the study of SMN complex components (orphan and bound) turn-over to understand the physiological relevant mechanisms of degradation of SMN and SMNΔ7 in the cell., This work was supported by grants from MINECO SAF-2012-34556 and CIBERNED to José G. Castaño.

The spliceosome is the RNP complex than catalyses the removal of introns from the Uridine-rich small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (U snRNPs) that make up the main components of this complex. The production of these RNPs is an intricate process, involving several key stages. These include: 1) the transcription of the U snRNAs; 2) their nuclear export; 3) the cytoplasmic assembly of the U snRNP; 4) their nuclear import; 5) their processing within Cajal bodies and the nucleolus; and 6) their storage in interchromatin granule clusters (IGCs). This review focuses on each of these stages, discussing the key complexes involved as well as the trafficking and targeting mechanisms involved.