Muscleblind-like (MBNL) proteins are critical RNA processing factors in development. MBNL activity is disrupted in the neuromuscular disease myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), due to the instability of a non-coding microsatellite in the DMPK gene and the expression of CUG expansion (CUGexp) RNAs. Pathogenic interactions between MBNL and CUGexp RNA lead to the formation of nuclear complexes termed foci and prevent MBNL function in pre-mRNA processing. The existence of multiple MBNL genes, as well as multiple protein isoforms, raises the question of whether different MBNL proteins possess unique or redundant functions. To address this question, we coexpressed three MBNL paralogs in cells at equivalent levels and characterized both specific and redundant roles of these proteins in alternative splicing and RNA foci dynamics. When coexpressed in the same cells, MBNL1, MBNL2 and MBNL3 bind the same RNA motifs with different affinities. While MBNL1 demonstrated the highest splicing activity, MBNL3 showed the lowest. When forming RNA foci, MBNL1 is the most mobile paralog, while MBNL3 is rather static and the most densely packed on CUGexp RNA. Therefore, our results demonstrate that MBNL paralogs and gene-specific isoforms possess inherent functional differences, an outcome that could be enlisted to improve therapeutic strategies for DM1.

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is an autosomal dominant multisystemic disorder caused by expansion of CTG triplet repeats in 3′-untranslated region of DMPK gene. The pathomechanism of DM1 is driven by accumulation of toxic transcripts containing expanded CUG repeats (CUGexp) in nuclear foci which sequester several factors regulating RNA metabolism, such as Muscleblind-like proteins (MBNLs). In this work, we utilized very short chemically modified antisense oligonucleotides composed exclusively of locked nucleic acids (all-LNAs) complementary to CUG repeats, as potential therapeutic agents against DM1. Our in vitro data demonstrated that very short, 8- or 10-unit all-LNAs effectively bound the CUG repeat RNA and prevented the formation of CUGexp/MBNL complexes. In proliferating DM1 cells as well as in skeletal muscles of DM1 mouse model the all-LNAs induced the reduction of the number and size of CUGexp foci and corrected MBNL-sensitive alternative splicing defects with high efficacy and specificity. The all-LNAs had low impact on the cellular level of CUGexp-containing transcripts and did not affect the expression of other transcripts with short CUG repeats. Our data strongly indicate that short all-LNAs complementary to CUG repeats are a promising therapeutic tool against DM1.

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) and type 2 (DM2) are human neuromuscular disorders associated with mutations of simple repetitive sequences in affected genes. The abnormal expansion of CTG repeats in the 3′-UTR of the DMPK gene elicits DM1, whereas elongated CCTG repeats in intron 1 of ZNF9/CNBP triggers DM2. Pathogenesis of both disorders is manifested by nuclear retention of expanded repeat-containing RNAs and aberrant alternative splicing. The precise determination of absolute numbers of mutant RNA molecules is important for a better understanding of disease complexity and for accurate evaluation of the efficacy of therapeutic drugs. We present two quantitative methods, Multiplex Ligation-Dependent Probe Amplification and droplet digital PCR, for studying the mutant DMPK transcript (DMPKexpRNA) and the aberrant alternative splicing in DM1 and DM2 human tissues and cells. We demonstrate that in DM1, the DMPKexpRNA is detected in higher copy number than its normal counterpart. Moreover, the absolute number of the mutant transcript indicates its low abundance with only a few copies per cell in DM1 fibroblasts. Most importantly, in conjunction with fluorescence in-situ hybridization experiments, our results suggest that in DM1 fibroblasts, the vast majority of nuclear RNA foci consist of a few molecules of DMPKexpRNA.