Development of Antisense Oligonucleotide Gapmers for the Treatment of Dyslipidemia and Lipodystrophy

Although technological advances in molecular genetics over the last few decades have greatly expedited the identification of mutations in many genetic diseases, the translation of the genetic mechanisms into a clinical setting has been quite challenging, with a minimum number of effective treatments available. The advancements in antisense therapy have revolutionized the field of neuromuscular disorders as well as lipid-mediated diseases. With the approval of splice-switching antisense oligonucleotide (AO)-based therapies for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), several modified AOs are now being evaluated in clinical trials for the treatment of several disorders. To activate RNase H-mediated cleavage of the target mRNA, as well as to increase the binding affinity and specificity, gapmer AOs are designed that have a PS backbone flanked with the modified AOs on both sides. Mipomersen (trade name Kynamro), a 2'-O-methoxyethyl (MOE) gapmer, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH) in 2013. Volanesorsen, another 20-mer MOE gapmer, has shown to be successful in lowering the levels of triglycerides (TGs) in several lipid disorders and has received conditional approval in the European Union for the treatment of familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) in May 2019 following successful results from phase II/III clinical trials. This chapter focuses on the clinical applications of gapmer AOs for general dyslipidemia and lipodystrophy.