{"title":"Intrinsic/proximal cell surface marker logic-gated extracellular targeted protein degradation in specific cell population.","authors":"Yafeng Wang,Guiquan Zhang,Ping Rong,Panpan Guo,Shisheng Huang,Yang Hang,Pei Wang,Lin Tang,Xiaojing Li,Xiaojun Tang,Shuai Ding,Xingxu Huang,Jianghuai Liu,Lingyun Sun","doi":"10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.05.002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.05.002","url":null,"abstract":"Molecular tether-mediated extracellular targeted protein degradation (eTPD) presents an innovative technology and underlies a promising drug modality. However, to precisely implement eTPD within specific cell compartments remains a significant challenge. As eTPD depends on the degrader molecule expression and activity, we first seek to expand the panel of potential eTPD degraders. To this end, more than fifty receptors with variable tissue distributions are screened for identification of those with substantial endocytic rates. We subsequently assemble the bispecific, \"Selected endocytic carrier-targeting chimeras (SecTAC)\", and validate their efficacies to program the target cells to internalize membrane/extracellular protein cargoes (or nucleic acids). Moreover, administration of a SecTAC for removal of excessive IgG via a currently validated, emerging degrader (CD71) leads to evident therapeutic effect in a mouse lupus model. To further enhance cell-targeting specificity, we next develop logic-gated eTPD (LOG-eTPD) based on combination of chimeras that indirectly couple cargo and degrader via another cell surface gating marker. Particularly, we find that a selective surface marker from the neighboring cells may also be exploited as input for LOG-eTPD in a therapeutically relevant context. Taken together, the present work has laid strong foundation for developing eTPD agents that combine high potency with precision and safety.","PeriodicalId":19020,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Therapy","volume":"48 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143926388","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Molecular TherapyPub Date : 2025-05-07DOI: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.05.005
Sina Fatehi,Matthew J Rok,Ryan M Marks,Emily Huynh,Natalie Kozman,Hong Anh Truong,Lijun Chi,Bei Yan,Enzhe Khazeeva,Paul Delgado-Olguin,Evgueni A Ivakine,Ronald D Cohn
{"title":"Template-assisted sequence knock-in rescues skeletal and cardiac muscle function in a deletion model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.","authors":"Sina Fatehi,Matthew J Rok,Ryan M Marks,Emily Huynh,Natalie Kozman,Hong Anh Truong,Lijun Chi,Bei Yan,Enzhe Khazeeva,Paul Delgado-Olguin,Evgueni A Ivakine,Ronald D Cohn","doi":"10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.05.005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.05.005","url":null,"abstract":"Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) poses challenges in therapy design due to dystrophin's complex role in maintaining muscle function since the restoration of truncated protein products has failed to completely address the disease's pathophysiology in clinical trials. As ∼70% of patients harbour deletions, strategies enabling targeted DNA insertion to restore full-length dystrophin protein are essential. Here, we present template-assisted sequence knock-in (TASK), a strategy that we employed to specifically correct the Dmd Δ52-54 mutation in a murine model. By co-delivering a repair template and the Cas9 nuclease using AAV9s, the splice-competent sequence for Dmd exons 52-54 was integrated into the residual intron 54 locus, resulting in the systemic restoration of full-length dystrophin at therapeutically relevant levels in the heart and across all skeletal muscles, leading to significant functional improvements. TASK demonstrates the highest efficiency of exogenous DNA knock-in reported to date, achieving rescue of key dystrophic hallmarks in a deletion model of DMD.","PeriodicalId":19020,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Therapy","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143926390","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Molecular TherapyPub Date : 2025-05-07Epub Date: 2025-03-18DOI: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.02.044
Frank J T Staal, Karin Pike-Overzet, Sander de Kivit, Lisa Ott de Bruin, Lucia Mamede, Martine Pergent, Johan Prevot, Michael Rothe, Axel Schambach, Arjan Lankester
{"title":"Safety and efficacy of gene therapy for RAG1-deficient SCID.","authors":"Frank J T Staal, Karin Pike-Overzet, Sander de Kivit, Lisa Ott de Bruin, Lucia Mamede, Martine Pergent, Johan Prevot, Michael Rothe, Axel Schambach, Arjan Lankester","doi":"10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.02.044","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.02.044","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19020,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Therapy","volume":" ","pages":"1869-1870"},"PeriodicalIF":12.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12126822/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143664006","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Spatial Multi-Omics Reveals the Potential Involvement of SPP1+ Fibroblasts in Determining Metabolic Heterogeneity and Promoting Metastatic Growth of Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastasis.","authors":"Yuzhen Gao,Xiuping Zhang,Shenglong Xia,Qing Chen,Qinchao Tong,Shaobo Yu,Rui An,Cheng Cheng,Wenbo Zou,Leilei Liang,Xinyou Xie,Zhangfa Song,Rong Liu,Jun Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.05.004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.05.004","url":null,"abstract":"This study aims to investigate key microscopic regions involved in colorectal cancer liver metastasis (CRLM), focusing on the crucial role of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in promoting tumor progression and providing molecular and metabolism-level insights for its diagnosis and treatment using multi-omics. We followed 12 fresh surgical samples from 2 untreated CRLM patients. Among these, 4 samples were used for spatial transcriptomics (ST), 4 for spatial metabolomics, and 4 for single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). Additionally, 92 frozen tissue samples from 40 patients were collected. 7 patients were used for immunofluorescence and RT-qPCR, while 33 patients were used for untargeted metabolomics. ST revealed that the spatial regions of CRLM consists of 7 major components, with fibroblast-dominated regions being the most prominent. These regions are characterized by diverse cell-cell interactions and immunosuppressive, and tumor growth-promoting environments. scRNA-seq identified that SPP1+ fibroblasts interact with CD44+ tumor cells, as confirmed through immunofluorescence. Spatial metabolomics revealed suberic acid and tetraethylene glycol as specific metabolic components of this structure, which was further validated by untargeted metabolomics. In conclusion, a SPP1+fibroblast-rich spatial region with metabolic reprogramming capabilities and immunosuppressive properties was identified in CRLM, which potentially facilitates metastatic outgrowth through interactions with tumor cells.","PeriodicalId":19020,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Therapy","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143926387","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Molecular TherapyPub Date : 2025-05-07Epub Date: 2025-02-25DOI: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.02.020
Steven M Jay
{"title":"Addressing barriers to clinical translation of extracellular vesicle therapeutics.","authors":"Steven M Jay","doi":"10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.02.020","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.02.020","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19020,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Therapy","volume":" ","pages":"1879-1880"},"PeriodicalIF":12.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12126779/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143516153","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Molecular TherapyPub Date : 2025-05-07Epub Date: 2025-04-02DOI: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.03.053
John J Rossi, Saumya Das
{"title":"Small RNAs as therapeutic agents: From catalytic motifs to regulatory pathways.","authors":"John J Rossi, Saumya Das","doi":"10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.03.053","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.03.053","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>RNA molecules have long been recognized for their central role in protein synthesis, primarily as messengers (mRNAs), ribosomal components, and adaptors (transfer RNAs). Over the past few decades, however, the discovery of small RNAs with regulatory or catalytic functions has dramatically expanded our understanding of RNA biology. These small RNAs can target specific transcripts for cleavage, alter mRNA translation, direct epigenetic changes at gene promoters, or even guide enzyme complexes to their substrates. In this review, we highlight and discuss the therapeutic potential of key classes of small RNAs, including ribozymes, RNA interference elements, antisense oligonucleotides, small nuclear-targeting RNAs, and transfer RNA-derived small RNAs.</p>","PeriodicalId":19020,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Therapy","volume":" ","pages":"2238-2242"},"PeriodicalIF":12.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12126810/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143780549","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Molecular TherapyPub Date : 2025-05-07Epub Date: 2025-02-25DOI: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.02.022
Brian Fury, Gerhard Bauer
{"title":"GMP manufacturing of cell and gene therapy products: Challenges, opportunities, and pathways forward.","authors":"Brian Fury, Gerhard Bauer","doi":"10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.02.022","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.02.022","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cell and gene therapy (CGT) products have been emerging as life-saving and life-changing therapies over the last 20 years. The United States has been a forerider in the development of these therapeutic products and has also developed the pertinent manufacturing methods for these complicated \"living medicines.\" California has emerged as a prominent hub for CGT manufacturing, hosting a variety of good manufacturing practice (GMP) facilities. These facilities are pivotal in advancing CGT products from phase 1 to phase 3 clinical trials and, eventually, to commercialization. Despite California's strategic advantages, including its biotech ecosystem and access to venture capital, numerous challenges hinder its full potential. These include funding disparities, expertise limitations, stringent regulatory demands, and a mismatch between facility utilization and demand. This review explores these factors more in depth and provides a comprehensive analysis of the current state of GMP manufacturing for CGTs in California. The example of the current situation in the state of California may also serve as an analogy for other states; we chose California due to our decades of experience manufacturing CGT products in this state.</p>","PeriodicalId":19020,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Therapy","volume":" ","pages":"1886-1888"},"PeriodicalIF":12.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12126763/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143516170","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Molecular TherapyPub Date : 2025-05-07Epub Date: 2025-04-02DOI: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.03.057
Zaneta Matuszek, Brandon L Brown, Carolyn M Yrigollen, Megan S Keiser, Beverly L Davidson
{"title":"Current trends in gene therapy to treat inherited disorders of the brain.","authors":"Zaneta Matuszek, Brandon L Brown, Carolyn M Yrigollen, Megan S Keiser, Beverly L Davidson","doi":"10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.03.057","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.03.057","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Gene therapy development, re-engineering, and application to patients hold promise to revolutionize medicine, including therapies for disorders of the brain. Advances in delivery modalities, expression regulation, and improving safety profiles are of critical importance. Additionally, each inherited disorder has its own unique characteristics as to regions and cell types impacted and the temporal dynamics of that impact that are essential for the design of therapeutic design strategies. Here, we review the current state of the art in gene therapies for inherited brain disorders, summarizing key considerations for vector delivery, gene addition, gene silencing, gene editing, and epigenetic editing. We provide examples from animal models, human cell lines, and, where possible, clinical trials. This review also highlights the various tools available to researchers for basic research questions and discusses our views on the current limitations in the field.</p>","PeriodicalId":19020,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Therapy","volume":" ","pages":"1988-2014"},"PeriodicalIF":12.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12126828/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143780112","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Molecular TherapyPub Date : 2025-05-07Epub Date: 2025-04-03DOI: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.03.064
Lester Suarez-Amaran, Liujiang Song, Anna P Tretiakova, Sheila A Mikhail, Richard Jude Samulski
{"title":"AAV vector development, back to the future.","authors":"Lester Suarez-Amaran, Liujiang Song, Anna P Tretiakova, Sheila A Mikhail, Richard Jude Samulski","doi":"10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.03.064","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.03.064","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Adeno-associated virus (AAV) has become a pivotal tool in gene therapy, providing a safe and efficient platform for long-term transgene expression. This review presents a comprehensive analysis of AAV's historical development, from its initial identification as a \"contaminant\" to its current clinical applications. We examine the molecular evolution of AAV, detailing advancements in vector engineering, rational design, directed evolution platforms, and computational modeling, which have expanded its therapeutic potential across diverse disease areas. Additionally, we explore AAV genome regulation, with a particular focus on inverted terminal repeats (ITRs) and AAV capsid-genome interactions, which play a crucial role in vector transduction efficiency and host adaptation. An assessment of past and present clinical trials as well as future directions is provided to illustrate the field's trajectory. Finally, another unique milestone in AAV research is also reported; namely, a pool of AAV libraries has been successfully administered to human decedents and analyzed, representing a transformative step in AAV evolution and selection for human applications. These studies should pave the way for more refined AAV vector optimization, accelerating the development of next-generation gene therapies with enhanced clinical translatability, potentially accelerating the gene therapy revolution.</p>","PeriodicalId":19020,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Therapy","volume":" ","pages":"1903-1936"},"PeriodicalIF":12.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12126818/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143788668","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Molecular TherapyPub Date : 2025-05-07Epub Date: 2025-04-03DOI: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.04.002
Allancer Nunes, Tianpeng Zhang, Xiaodong Mu, Paul D Robbins
{"title":"Therapeutic application of extracellular vesicles in human diseases.","authors":"Allancer Nunes, Tianpeng Zhang, Xiaodong Mu, Paul D Robbins","doi":"10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.04.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.04.002","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane vesicles released or secreted from almost all cell types. EVs are derived from multivesicular bodies or from the plasma membrane and contain a subset of proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids (e.g., DNA, RNA, and microRNA [miRNA]) derived from the parent cell. EVs play important roles in intercellular communication by efficiently transferring the content between cells both locally and systemically. Given their natural ability to transfer cargo to cells, sometimes in a targeted manner, and their apparent lack of immunogenicity, EVs are being engineered for delivery of therapeutic RNAs, DNAs, miRNAs, viral particles, drugs, and even proteins. In addition, many of the therapeutic effects of stem cell treatments are mediated by stem cell-derived EVs, which are safer and potentially more effective than the parental stem cells. Here we provide an overview of the use of EVs for delivery of different therapeutic nucleic acids, viruses, and drugs, as well as the use of therapeutic stem cell-derived EVs.</p>","PeriodicalId":19020,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Therapy","volume":" ","pages":"2243-2251"},"PeriodicalIF":12.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12126785/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143788692","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}