| Keyword search (4,163 papers available) | ![]() |
"Helfield B" Authored Publications:
| Title: | Focused Ultrasound and Microbubble-Mediated Delivery of CRISPR-Cas9 Ribonucleoprotein to Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells | ||||
| Authors: | Hazel K, Singh D, He S, Guertin Z, Husser MC, Helfield B | ||||
| Link: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39797397/ | ||||
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.01.013 | ||||
| Publication: | Molecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy | ||||
| Keywords: | |||||
| PMID: | 39797397 | Category: | Date Added: | 2025-01-11 | |
| Dept Affiliation: |
BIOLOGY
1 Department of Biology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke St. W H4B 1R6, Montreal, Canada. 2 Department of Biology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke St. W H4B 1R6, Montreal, Canada; Department of Physics, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke St. W H4B 1R6, Montreal, Canada. Electronic address: brandon.hefield@concordia.ca. |
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Description: |
CRISPR-Cas9 ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) have been heavily considered for gene therapy due to their high on-target efficiency, rapid activity and lack of insertional mutagenesis relative to other CRISPR-Cas9 delivery formats. Genetic diseases such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy currently lack effective treatment strategies and are prime targets for CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology. However, current in-vivo delivery strategies for Cas9 pose risks of unwanted immunogenic responses. This proof-of-concept study aimed to demonstrate that focused ultrasound (FUS) in combination with microbubbles can be used to deliver Cas9-sgRNA (single guide RNA) RNPs and functionally edit human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) in-vitro, a model system that can be expanded to cardiovascular research via hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes. Here, we first determine acoustic conditions suitable for the viable delivery of large proteins to hiPSC with clinical Definity® microbubble agents using our customized experimental platform. From here, we delivered Cas9-sgRNA RNP complexes targeting the EGFP (enhanced green fluorescent protein) gene to EGFP-expressing hiPSCs for EGFP knockout. Simultaneous acoustic cavitation detection during treatment confirmed a strong correlation between microbubble disruption and viable FUS-mediated protein delivery in hiPSCs. This study shows, for the first time, the potential for an FUS-mediated technique for targeted and precise CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing in human stem cells. |



