UC Santa Barbara

Allele-specific RNA silencing has been shown to be an effective therapeutic treatment in a number of diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders. Studies of allele-specific silencing in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) to date have focused on mouse models of disease. We here examine allele-specific silencing in a human-cell model of HCM. We investigate two methods of silencing, short hairpin RNA (shRNA) and antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) silencing, using a human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte (hiPSC-CM) model. We used cellular micropatterning devices with traction force microscopy and automated video analysis to examine each strategy's effects on contractile defects underlying disease. We find that shRNA silencing ameliorates contractile phenotypes of disease, reducing disease-associated increases in cardiomyocyte velocity, force, and power. We find that ASO silencing, while better able to target and knockdown a specific disease-associated allele, showed more modest improvements in contractile phenotypes. These findings are the first exploration of allele-specific silencing in a human HCM model and provide a foundation for further exploration of silencing as a therapeutic treatment for MYH7-mutation-associated cardiomyopathy.