Gene therapy for haploinsufficiency
Methods and compositions are provided for activating transcription in a mammalian cell.
1. A composition comprising an adeno-associated viral vector comprising a nucleic acid encoding a guide RNA, wherein the guide RNA comprises:
a) a targeting region that, under conditions present in a nucleus of a cell, specifically hybridizes to a promoter region or an enhancer region operably linked to a wild-type copy of a haploinsufficient gene; and
b) a binding region that specifically binds a catalytically inactive CRISPR nuclease under conditions present in the nucleus of the cell, wherein the haploinsufficient gene is SCN2A, SIM1, or MC4R.
2. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the catalytically inactive CRISPR nuclease comprises (i) a nuclease domain that has been modified to eliminate nuclease and nicking activity and (ii) a transcriptional activation domain, and/or a D10A, H840A S. pyogenes dCas9.
3. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the catalytically inactive CRISPR nuclease is a catalytically inactive CRISPR nuclease-VP64 fusion polypeptide.
4. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the cell is a non-dividing cell, a neuron, or a hypothalamus cell.
5. The composition of claim 1 , further comprising one or more plasmids encoding AAV rep and cap genes.
6. The composition of claim 1 , further comprising one or more plasmids encoding adenovirus helper factors E1A, E1B, E2A, E4ORF6, and/or VA.