A Compensatory U1snRNA Partially Rescues FAH Splicing and Protein Expression in a Splicing-Defective Mouse Model of Tyrosinemia Type I

The elucidation of aberrant splicing mechanisms, frequently associated with disease has led to the development of RNA therapeutics based on the U1snRNA, which is involved in 5' splice site (5'ss) recognition. Studies in cellular models have demonstrated that engineered U1snRNAs can rescue different splicing mutation types. However, the assessment of their correction potential in vivo is limited by the scarcity of animal models with the targetable splicing defects. Here, we challenged the U1snRNA in the mouse model of hepatic fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase (FAH) deficiency (Hereditary Tyrosinemia type I, HT1) due to the c.706G>A splicing mutation. Through minigene expression studies we selected a compensatory U1snRNA (U1) that was able to rescue this mutation. Intriguingly, adeno-associated virus-mediated delivery of U1 (AAV8-U1), but not of U1, partially rescued FAH splicing in mouse hepatocytes. Consistently, FAH protein was detectable only in the liver of AAV8-U1 treated mice, which displayed a slightly prolonged survival. Moreover, RNA sequencing revealed the negligible impact of the U1 on the splicing profile and overall gene expression, thus pointing toward gene specificity. These data provide early in vivo proof-of-principle of the correction potential of compensatory U1snRNAs in HTI and encourage further optimization on a therapeutic perspective, and translation to other splicing-defective forms of metabolic diseases.