Genome editing of isogenic human induced pluripotent stem cells recapitulates long QT phenotype for drug testing

J Am Coll Cardiol. 2014 Aug 5;64(5):451-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2014.04.057.

Abstract

Background: Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) play an important role in disease modeling and drug testing. However, the current methods are time-consuming and lack an isogenic control.

Objectives: This study sought to establish an efficient technology to generate human PSC-based disease models with isogenic control.

Methods: The ion channel genes KCNQ1 and KCNH2 with dominant negative mutations causing long QT syndrome types 1 and 2, respectively, were stably integrated into a safe harbor AAVS1 locus using zinc finger nuclease technology.

Results: Patch-clamp recording revealed that the edited iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) displayed characteristic long QT syndrome phenotype and significant prolongation of the action potential duration compared with the unedited control cells. Finally, addition of nifedipine (L-type calcium channel blocker) or pinacidil (KATP-channel opener) shortened the action potential duration of iPSC-CMs, confirming the validity of isogenic iPSC lines for drug testing in the future.

Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that iPSC-CM-based disease models can be rapidly generated by overexpression of dominant negative gene mutants.

Keywords: disease models; drug testing; genome editing; long QT syndrome; stem cells.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Anti-Arrhythmia Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Cell Differentiation
  • Cell Transdifferentiation
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Genome
  • Humans
  • Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells / metabolism
  • Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells / pathology*
  • Long QT Syndrome / drug therapy
  • Long QT Syndrome / genetics*
  • Long QT Syndrome / pathology
  • Patch-Clamp Techniques

Substances

  • Anti-Arrhythmia Agents