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Gene therapies in canine models for Duchenne muscular dystrophy

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A Correction to this article was published on 19 February 2019

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Abstract

Therapies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) must first be tested in animal models to determine proof-of-concept, efficacy, and importantly, safety. The murine and canine models for DMD are genetically homologous and most commonly used in pre-clinical testing. Although the mouse is a strong, proof-of-concept model, affected dogs show more analogous clinical and immunological disease progression compared to boys with DMD. As such, evaluating genetic therapies in the canine models may better predict response at the genetic, phenotypic, and immunological levels. We review the use of canine models for DMD and their benefits as it pertains to genetic therapy studies, including gene replacement, exon skipping, and gene editing.

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  • 19 February 2019

    The authors would like to correct the following information concerning Conflict of Interest.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge Sara Mata López, Dr. Sharla Birch, Amanda Bettis, and Cynthia Balog-Alvarez for their work with the GRMD model.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, 4458 TAMU, College Station, TX, 77843-4458, USA

    Peter P. Nghiem & Joe N. Kornegay

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  1. Peter P. Nghiem
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  2. Joe N. Kornegay
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Correspondence to Peter P. Nghiem.

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Dr. Nghiem is a paid consultant for Agada Biosciences. Dr. Kornegay does not have any conflicts of interest.

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Nghiem, P.P., Kornegay, J.N. Gene therapies in canine models for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Hum Genet 138, 483–489 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00439-019-01976-z

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