PUBLICATION

Large-scale phenotypic drug screen identifies neuroprotectants in zebrafish and mouse models of retinitis pigmentosa

Authors
Zhang, L., Chen, C., Fu, J., Lilley, B., Berlinicke, C., Hansen, B., Ding, D., Wang, G., Wang, T., Shou, D., Ye, Y., Mulligan, T., Emmerich, K., Saxena, M.T., Hall, K.R., Sharrock, A.V., Brandon, C., Park, H., Kam, T.I., Dawson, V.L., Dawson, T.M., Shim, J.S., Hanes, J., Ji, H., Liu, J.O., Qian, J., Ackerley, D.F., Rohrer, B., Zack, D.J., Mumm, J.S.
ID
ZDB-PUB-210630-8
Date
2021
Source
eLIFE   10: (Journal)
Registered Authors
Mumm, Jeff
Keywords
developmental biology, neuroscience, zebrafish
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Animals, Genetically Modified
  • Cells, Cultured/drug effects
  • Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases, Type 6/genetics
  • Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases, Type 6/metabolism
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
  • Drug Evaluation, Preclinical
  • Gene Expression Regulation/drug effects
  • Mice
  • Mutation
  • Neuroprotective Agents/pharmacology*
  • Poly (ADP-Ribose) Polymerase-1/genetics
  • Poly (ADP-Ribose) Polymerase-1/metabolism
  • Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells/drug effects
  • Retinitis Pigmentosa/drug therapy*
  • Zebrafish
PubMed
34184634 Full text @ Elife
Abstract
Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and associated inherited retinal diseases (IRDs) are caused by rod photoreceptor degeneration, necessitating therapeutics promoting rod photoreceptor survival. To address this, we tested compounds for neuroprotective effects in multiple zebrafish and mouse RP models, reasoning drugs effective across species and/or independent of disease mutation may translate better clinically. We first performed a large-scale phenotypic drug screen for compounds promoting rod cell survival in a larval zebrafish model of inducible RP. We tested 2,934 compounds, mostly human-approved drugs, across six concentrations, resulting in 113 compounds being identified as hits. Secondary tests of 42 high-priority hits confirmed eleven lead candidates. Leads were then evaluated in a series of mouse RP models in an effort to identify compounds effective across species and RP models, i.e., potential pan-disease therapeutics. Nine of eleven leads exhibited neuroprotective effects in mouse primary photoreceptor cultures, and three promoted photoreceptor survival in mouse rd1 retinal explants. Both shared and complementary mechanisms of action were implicated across leads. Shared target tests implicated parp1-dependent cell death in our zebrafish RP model. Complementation tests revealed enhanced and additive/synergistic neuroprotective effects of paired drug combinations in mouse photoreceptor cultures and zebrafish, respectively. These results highlight the value of cross-species/multi-model phenotypic drug discovery and suggest combinatorial drug therapies may provide enhanced therapeutic benefits for RP patients.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping