Airway mucus hypersecretion contributes to the morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic inflammatory lung diseases. Reducing mucus production is crucial for improving patients' quality of life. The transcription factor SAM-pointed domain-containing Ets-like factor () plays a critical role in the regulation of mucus production and, therefore, represents a potential therapeutic target. This study aims to reduce lung epithelial mucus production by targeted silencing using the novel strategy, epigenetic editing. Zinc fingers and CRISPR/dCas platforms were engineered to target repressors (KRAB, DNA methyltransferases, histone methyltransferases) to the promoter. All constructs were able to effectively suppress both mRNA and protein expression, which was accompanied by inhibition of downstream mucus-related genes [anterior gradient 2 (), mucin 5AC ()]. For the histone methyltransferase G9A, and not its mutant or other effectors, the obtained silencing was mitotically stable. These results indicate efficient silencing and downregulation of mucus-related gene expression by epigenetic editing, in human lung epithelial cells. This opens avenues for epigenetic editing as a novel therapeutic strategy to induce long-lasting mucus inhibition.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.