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Targeting overexpressed transcription co-regulators to suppress SBMA

Kennedy’s disease is caused by a mutation in the androgen receptor (AR). AR is the receptor of testosterone, the sex male hormone, and of note, only males show symptoms. AR is a transcription factor, which means that it controls what the cells need to produce (express) or not to stay healthy. It does so by interacting with other proteins called transcriptional coactivators. The mutation leads to the production of a protein with altered functions; some are lost, and others are enhanced. We have collected evidence that by modulating the interaction with two specific AR partners that are increased during the disease, we can reduce the aberrant AR activity while preserving its normal function. We propose to investigate i) how the enhancement of these two factors in muscle contributes to motor neuron and muscle pathology; ii) whether one of these two factors modifies the disease protein; and iii) we propose to move our approach to the clinics using nanoparticles driven to muscle to inhibit these two factors and test whether this could be a successful therapeutic strategy for patients. Our experimental approach is based on strong preliminary data and is relevant for two reasons: it will increase our knowledge of the mechanisms governing AR function in pathophysiological contexts, and it may allow us to move our tools to phase I clinical trial.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Grantee: Maria Pennuto, PhD
Grant type: Research Grant
Award total: $300,000.00
Institution: University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova)
Country: Italy