Antisense correction of SMN2 splicing in the CNS rescues necrosis in a type III SMA mouse model

Abstract

Increasing survival of motor neuron 2, centromeric (SMN2) exon 7 inclusion to express more full-length SMN protein in motor neurons is a promising approach to treat spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a genetic neurodegenerative disease. Previously, we identified a potent 2′-O-(2-methoxyethyl) (MOE) phosphorothioate-modified antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) that blocks an SMN2 intronic splicing silencer element and efficiently promotes exon 7 inclusion in transgenic mouse peripheral tissues after systemic administration. Here we address its efficacy in the spinal cord—a prerequisite for disease treatment—and its ability to rescue a mild SMA mouse model that develops tail and ear necrosis, resembling the distal tissue necrosis reported in some SMA infants. Using a micro-osmotic pump, we directly infused the ASO into a lateral cerebral ventricle in adult mice expressing a human SMN2 transgene; the ASO gave a robust and long-lasting increase in SMN2 exon 7 inclusion measured at both the mRNA and protein levels in spinal cord motor neurons. A single embryonic or neonatal intracerebroventricular ASO injection strikingly rescued the tail and ear necrosis in SMA mice. We conclude that this MOE ASO is a promising drug candidate for SMA therapy, and, more generally, that ASOs can be used to efficiently redirect alternative splicing of target genes in the CNS.