- Melamed, Zeev;
- López-Erauskin, Jone;
- Beccari, Melinda;
- Ling, Karen;
- Zuberi, Aamir;
- Presa, Maximilliano;
- Gonzalo-Gil, Elena;
- Maimon, Roy;
- Vazquez-Sanchez, Sonia;
- Chaturvedi, Som;
- Bravo-Hernández, Mariana;
- Taupin, Vanessa;
- Moore, Stephen;
- Artates, Jonathan;
- Acks, Eitan;
- Ndayambaje, I;
- Agra de Almeida Quadros, Ana;
- Jafar-Nejad, Paayman;
- Rigo, Frank;
- Bennett, C;
- Lutz, Cathleen;
- Lagier-Tourenne, Clotilde;
- Cleveland, Don;
- Baughn, Michael
Loss of nuclear TDP-43 is a hallmark of neurodegeneration in TDP-43 proteinopathies, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). TDP-43 mislocalization results in cryptic splicing and polyadenylation of pre-messenger RNAs (pre-mRNAs) encoding stathmin-2 (also known as SCG10), a protein that is required for axonal regeneration. We found that TDP-43 binding to a GU-rich region sterically blocked recognition of the cryptic 3 splice site in STMN2 pre-mRNA. Targeting dCasRx or antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) suppressed cryptic splicing, which restored axonal regeneration and stathmin-2-dependent lysosome trafficking in TDP-43-deficient human motor neurons. In mice that were gene-edited to contain human STMN2 cryptic splice-polyadenylation sequences, ASO injection into cerebral spinal fluid successfully corrected Stmn2 pre-mRNA misprocessing and restored stathmin-2 expression levels independently of TDP-43 binding.