Extracellular RNA biomarkers of myotonic dystrophy type 1

Active Project Grant Awarded Last action

Award ID
R33NS117210
Recipient
Awarding agency
Obligated
$1,287,580

Award facts

Completion date 90% complete
Place of performance
Charlestown, MA 02129, USA

Award details come from USAspending.gov.

Description

Abstract
Myotonic dystrophy (dystrophia myotonica; DM) is an inherited disorder that causes progressive muscle weakness and wasting. No effective treatments are available to slow or reverse symptoms. The mutation responsible for DM type 1 (DM1) is an expanded CTG repeat in the DM protein kinase (dmpk) gene. Clinical symptoms result from pathogenic effects of the dmpk mrna that lead to MIS-regulation of alternative pre- mrna splicing of at least several dozen transcripts. Monitoring of a panel of RNA splicing outcomes in repeated muscle tissue biopsies has been proposed to measure DM1 disease activity during future clinical trials. However, the muscle biopsy procedure is invasive, painful, impractical for long-term monitoring, and in pediatric patients requires general anesthesia, which increases risk. Extracellular RNA (exrna) refers to mrnas and noncoding rnas that are released from and taken up by cells as a novel form of cell-to-cell communication. Exrnas in blood and urine serve as genetic biomarkers of cancers and other disease states. Recent work has suggested that splicing outcomes in urine exrna may have the capacity to serve as robust monitoring biomarkers of DM1. This prospective multi-center study will test the hypothesis that exrna contains a representative transcriptome that is altered in DM and is quantifiable in urine. Splicing outcomes in urine exrna are expected to correlate with DM1 disease severity using clinical measures of muscle function. R61 phase (years 1 - 3): aim 1 will identify and characterize the urine exrna profile in DM1 patients and unaffected control subjects. Droplet digital PCR (ddpcr), a state-of-the-art technology, will be used to quantitate a panel of urine exrna splice events previously reported as altered in DM1. Go/no-go milestone: candidate exrna biomarkers show differential splicing in DM1 VS. Unaffected controls with a p value < 0.01. Aim 2 will determine the feasibility and reliability of the exrna splicing profile measured by ddpcr as useful biomarkers of disease severity in DM1 patients using repeated measurements over two years. Go/no-go milestone: candidate exrna biomarkers demonstrate correlation of at least 0.45 with one or more measures of muscle function and a false discovery rate of 5%. R33 phase (years 4 - 5): aim 3 will evaluate the optimal exrna biomarker candidate identified in the R61 phase as a predictor of DM1 disease status by longitudinal monitoring of ddpcr splice events and clinical measurements of muscle function in a prospective cohort of DM1 patients, and comparison of splice events in exrna with those in muscle biopsy tissue. Proposed context of use (COU): monitoring biomarker for serial assessment of disease status or burden in patients with DM1. The approach used in this proposal also will be applicable to DM type 2 (DM2), a range of muscular dystrophies, and other genetic disorders.

Transactions

Action Obligated Date
Amendment $634,278
Original award $653,302

Subawards

Subrecipient Amount Awarded
The MGH Institute Of Health Professions, Inc. The Physical Therapist (PT) will assume direct responsibility for physical therapy evaluations at MGH related to this project and assist with interpretation… $39,742
Wake Forest University Health Sciences WFBMC will be responsible for identifying and recruiting subjects with DM1 and unaffected family members as control subjects. After obtaining informed… $256,805
University Of Pittsburgh - Of The Commonwealth System Of Higher Education Statement of Work - University of Pittsburgh Subcontract University of Pittsburgh will be responsible for identifying and recruiting 15 subjects with DM1 and 15… $136,795

Quick answers

Who received award R33NS117210?

R33NS117210 was awarded to The General Hospital Corporation by National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (National Institutes of Health) on June 15, 2021.

How much is award R33NS117210 worth?

$1,287,580 has been obligated on R33NS117210.

On GovTribe

See this award's full record

  • Every transaction and subaward
  • The recipient's other awards and teaming partners
  • Similar grant awards
  • Ask GovTribe AI about this award