Graduation Year
2016
Date of Submission
12-2015
Document Type
Campus Only Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
W.M. Keck Science Department
Second Department
Science and Management
Reader 1
Suzanne Kern
Reader 2
Julie Saba
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2015 Apoorva Rangan
Abstract
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is an X-linked recessive genetic disease, caused by a frame-shift mutation in the dystrophin gene. Current gene therapies for DMD target dystrophin transcripts in existing skeletal and cardiac muscle, rather than adipose and fibrotic tissues. These approaches may be unable to repair muscle functionality in DMD patients who have already undergone extensive muscle damage and wasting. Thus, successful DMD therapies must consider the underlying genetic cause and pathology. Inhibition of the gene myostatin, a negative regulator of muscle growth, has been shown to ameliorate muscle loss. Here, the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing platform is proposed to restore dystrophin expression and inhibit myostatin as a novel gene therapy in DMD patient derived induced pluripotent stem cells. Successful CRISPR-Cas9 mediated gene editing would be determined using PCR amplification, western blot analysis, immunofluorescence staining, and off target sequence analysis in differentiated skeletal muscle cells.
Recommended Citation
Rangan, Apoorva, "CRISPR-Cas9 Mediated Restoration of Dystrophin Expression and Inhibition of Myostatin: A Novel Gene Therapy for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy" (2016). CMC Senior Theses. 1305.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1305
This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.
