Rafael J. Yáñez-Muñoz

View Scopus Profile

Rafael J. Yáñez-Muñoz

Professor

 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7113-1938

  • TW20 0EX

Personal profile

Personal profile

AGCTlab.org logo

AGCTlab.org logoRafael J. Yáñez-Muñoz BSc PhD FHEA FRSB

Professor of Advanced Therapy 

Advanced Gene and Cell Therapy laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK (AGCTlab.org, Twitter @rjyanezmunoz)

Rafael Yáñez is the Director of the Centre of Gene and Cell Therapy in the Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, UK. Prof Yáñez previously held Lecturer appointments with King’s College London and University College London, and received his BSc and PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain. Prof Yáñez has extensive experience in gene and cell therapy for both common and rare diseases. He is particularly involved in the development of safer methods, using genome editing (watch a videoclip on his genome editing research) and viral vectors modified to avoid integration in the cellular genome. His latest research is of relevance to neurodegenerative and inherited diseases, including ataxia telangiectasia, spinal muscular atrophy, spinal injury, Parkinson disease and immunodeficiencies. Prof Yáñez was Editor-in-Chief of Gene Therapy 2017-2020, and Trustee (2015-2018) and then Chair of Trustees of the Genetic Alliance UK (2019-2020), and is currently President (2021-2025) of the British Society for Gene and Cell Therapy. You can read an interview with Rafael here or watch a fireside interview on advanced therapies here. An annotated slideshow of a recent presentation of Rafael's, at EULAR, is available here.

[Rare Disease Dancer picture credits: design, Ramiya Lakshman; stylisation, Andrea Yáñez-Cunningham]

 

 
AGCTlab HIGHLIGHTS
 

Long Watch - Rafael's Inaugural Professorial Lecture, With a little help from my friends, delivered on 25 Oct 2022: using photographs and art to thank the very many people who have supported him on the way to professorship, Rafael discussed career reflections, rare disease, mental health, dos and dont's in a science career... (with Introduction by Prof Klaus Dodds and Vote of Thanks by Dr Andrew Porter: 1 hour and 30 minutes)

Inaugural Lecture

 

Watch a short BBC interview with Rafael on the controversial pricing of drugs for rare diseases:

RY BBC

 

Watch a 5-minute, plain-language videoclip on our Ataxia telangiectasia research:

RY

 

Watch a 2-minute, plain-language videoclip on our Spinal muscular atrophy research:

RY

 

Watch the 2-minute videoclip of our yearly Rare Disease Day event at Royal Holloway:

RDD2017 videoclip

 

LATEST AGCTlab NEWS
 
25 Oct 2022 - Rafael delivers his Inaugural Professorial Lecture to a packed Shilling Auditorium in Royal Holloway's campus.
24 Oct 2022 - Publication of PPP's People and Skills in UK STEM report, with Rafael's contribution.
14 Oct 2022 - Rafael delivers closing speech at joint ESGCT/BSGCT 2022 conference in Edinburgh, as BSGCT President.
30 Sep 2022 - Alison Halliday publishes "Cell and Gene Therapy: Rewriting the Future of Medicine", with Rafael's comments.
09 Sep 2022 - Rafael attends the excellent Spinal Research Network Meeting 2022, delayed 3 years by COVID-19.
26 Jul 2022 - Sahar passes online PhD viva with thesis on lentiviral episomes with minor corrections. Congratulations Sahar!
02 Jun 2022 - Rafael attends spectacular Royal Holloway Summer Ball as School Director of Student Experience (Wellbeing).
04 Apr 2022 - Royal Holloway holds delayed 2020 and 2021 Graduation ceremonies, the former including Ellie's PhD celebration.
13 Mar 2022 - Rafael delivers the keynote lecture at Bahrain's Gene Therapies and Regenerative Medicine conference.
28 Feb 2022 - We run our second virtual Rare Disease Day event, with 400 school students in attendance.
01 Feb 2022 - Rafael gives a lecture on gene therapy at Tiffin School, Kingston as part of Royal Holloway's Masterclass series.
26 Oct 2021 - Whose voice is it anyway report published by RCNET and M4RD, including Rafael's comments.
19 Oct 2021 - Rafael becomes President of the British Society for Gene and Cell Therapy (2021-2025).
06 Oct 2021 - Ellie publishes meta-analysis of Spinal muscular atrophy gene therapy models in Gene Therapy.
04 Oct 2021 - Rafael and Uta Griesenbach publish a paper on the BSGCT in Human Gene Therapy.
26 Feb 2021 - Our virtual Rare Disease Day event in COVID-19 lockdown beats all previous attendance records.
26 Nov 2020 - The Spectator publishes report on gene therapy following roundtable involving Rafael and other experts.
31 Jul 2020 - Ellie passes her PhD viva with an excellent thesis on spinal muscular atrophy gene therapy. Congratulations Ellie!
24 Apr 2020 - Rafael steps down as Chair of Trustees of the Genetic Alliance UK, very proud to have served.
26 Feb 2020 - We celebrate our 10th Rare Disease Day event at Royal Holloway, our most successful ever.
12 Sep 2019 - Rafael cycles from Paddock Wood to Bruges with the BCA team and together they raise £141,692 for Action for A-T.
20 Jun 2019 - Rafael chairs Funding and Regulatory symposium at 2019 Conference of the BSGCT in Sheffield.
14 Jun 2019 - Rafael is invited to speak on Genome Editing at EULAR 2019 in Madrid. You can see his annotated slideshow here.
18 May 2019 - Rafael cycles 66 miles in Spinal Muscular Atrophy UK's Ride Scorpion 2019. You can sponsor Rafael here.
28 Apr 2019 - Rafael attends at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy in Washington DC.
26 Mar 2019 - Rafael gives outreach Masterclass on Gene Therapy at Upton Court Grammar School, Slough.
28 Feb 2019 - Rafael is interviewed for The Naked Scientists podcast The common case of rare diseases.
28 Feb 2019 - On Rare Disease Day 2019, Rafael publishes on Newborn blood spot screening in Guardian supplement.
26 Feb 2019 - 9th Rare Disease Day event at Royal Holloway, heavily over-subscribed and a complete success.
23 Jan 2019 - Ellie and Rafael attend at the UK Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Research Day 2019 in Keele.
 
Click here for 2018 news
Click here for 2017 news
Click here for 2016 news

 

Rare Disease is hot on the agenda!

3,500,000. That is the number of people in England (7%) who will be affected by a rare disease in their lifetime. 20% of the Health budget will go to look after them, mostly providing symptomatic and palliative care, because there are hardly any curative treatments. And we have not started talking about the relatives who will have to stop working and become full-time carers…

How is that possible if they are rare diseases? Well, there are more than 9,600 of them (we do not have an accurate number!), and even though each disease affects fewer than 1 in 2,000 people, taken together they are a massive issue.

So why are rare diseases hot on the agenda? Because slowly but finally there is widespread understanding of their importance. Countries are developing Rare Disease National Plans (see the recently published UK National Strategy for Rare Diseases, which will provide the basis for the National Plans in the UK Nations). International collaboration, always important in research but critical in the case of rare diseases, allowed the creation of an International Rare Disease Research Consortium (IRDiRC), with a 2017-2027 vision to Enable all people living with a rare disease to receive an accurate diagnosis, care, and available therapy within one year of coming to medical attention. And Gene and Stem Cell Therapy research has finally provided some curative treatments, with many more in the pipeline.

Is the job done? By no means. It still takes five years for some people to be properly diagnosed, the care for most people affected is far from optimal, and in most cases there is no curative treatment. Raising awareness is critical, and that is the goal of Rare Disease Day, an annual international awareness day celebrated the last day of February (because on a leap year it is a rare day!). Prof Yáñez organises a yearly event to mark Rare Disease Day (RDD@RHUL).

 

 RDD2022 banner

 

Rafael's talk introducing Royal Holloway's Rare Disease Day event 2022:

 Rafael's RDD2022 talk

Other links:

Versión Española
 
Interested in a career in Science? Watch my recommendations in YouTube 
 
Let's talk about mental health in academia: watch my take here, using my anxiety crisis as an example

One of Rafael's scientific presentations: annotated slideshow from EULAR 2019 in Madrid

Have you heard of Same but Different? It is a beautiful photography project on rare disease

All publications (in PubMed)

 

Teaching (restricted to Royal Holloway):

BS3590 (Molecular Basis of Inherited Disease)
BS3530 (Applications of Genetic Engineering in Health and Disease)
 
Consortia:
UK SMA Research Consortium (2016-2020; Spinal Muscular Atrophy)
CHASE-IT (2013-2016; Coordinator; Chondroitinase ABC for Spinal Injury Therapy)
PERSIST (2009-2013; Novel Tools for Gene and Cell Therapy)
NEUGENE (2008-2012; Gene Therapy for Parkinson Disease)
GENAME (2007-2010; Targets and Therapeutics for Spinal Muscular Atrophy)

CLINIGENE (2006-2011; joined in 2007; Gene Therapy Network)

 

UK SMA RC.jpg  CHASE-IT logo.jpg   PERSIST logo.jpg   NEUGENE logo.jpgGENAME logo.jpgCLINIGENE logo.jpg

 
 
 

Research interests

 

Overview of current research

Our laboratory works on gene and cell therapy for common and rare (mostly inherited) diseases. Our main interest lies in the development of safer methods relying on either episomal vectors or genome editing (aka genome surgery or gene repair). We mostly use novel, integration-deficient lentiviral vectors and adeno-associated viral vectors. Using episomal vectors we are particularly interested in the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, spinal injury (both of which are rare diseases) and Parkinson disease. We have also converted the non-replicating integration-deficient lentivector episomes into replicating episomes of wider applicability. Using genome editing we are developing treatments for rare primary immunodeficiencies, including ataxia telangiectasia. Haematopoietic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are our preferred stem cell models.

 

Too obscure? Try the lay description below instead.

 

Join us!  [MPhil/PhD]  [Postdocs]

 

Labelling of neurons with integration-deficient lentiviral vectors. A vector expressing eGFP (a gene that makes cells fluoresce green) was used to mark cells in the spinal cord (left) or the olfactory bulb in the brain (right). On the left panel motor neurons were also stained red with an antibody, so if these cells have taken up the viral vector the overlap of red and green fluorescence in their cell bodies is seen as yellow.

 

Why use episomal lentivectors?

Many gene therapy strategies require transduction (genetic modification with a viral vector) of somatic stem cells, neurons or other cells which divide rarely or do not divide at all. HIV belongs to a class (Genus) of viruses called Lentivirus, which in turn are part of a wider Family called Retroviridae, or more commonly, retroviruses. Lentiviruses distinguish themselves from other retroviruses in several ways, including their ability to cross the nuclear membrane, which allows them to infect cells that are not dividing. However, in common with other retroviruses, lentiviruses integrate their genome into the chromosomes of the cells they infect. Retroviral and lentiviral vectors likewise integrate into the genome of the transduced cells, which can lead to unwanted effects on the genes at or near the integration site, something called insertional mutagenesis. In the worst-case scenario such negative events can lead to cancer. Furthermore, each transduced cell will have the vector integrated at a different chromosomal location, which may affect or not vector gene expression. This can cause differences in vector gene expression in different cells, what we call position effect variegation. It has long been known that lentiviral vectors can be made integration-deficient using integrase mutations, but previously observed gene expression levels in vivo were very poor in the absence of integration.

 

Generation of episomal lentivector circles. The linear double stranded DNA vector molecule produced by standard lentivectors either integrates in the cellular genome or is converted into viral episomes. Higher levels of viral episomes are produced if integration is prevented through the use of mutations affecting the viral integrase.

 

Effective gene therapy with episomal lentivectors

We originally demonstrated that lentiviral (HIV) vectors modified to prevent integration in the cellular genome (so-called integration-deficient lentiviral vectors or IDLVs) are very efficient tools for gene therapy (Yáñez-Muñoz et al., 2006). We render the vectors integration-deficient by using missense mutations altering the integrase active site. Failing to integrate in the host cell genome these lentivectors generate increased levels of episomal vector circles, which lack replication signals and get diluted out through cell division. Gene expression from the viral episomes is transient in dividing cells but long-lived and efficient in quiescent tissues, including eye, brain, spinal cord and muscle (Yáñez-Muñoz et al., 2006; Hutson et al., 2012a,b; Peluffo et al., 2013; Lu-Nguyen et al., 2014; Lu-Nguyen et al., 2015; Ahmed et al., 2018). The main advantages of these non-integrating lentivectors in gene addition strategies are their highly reduced risk of causing insertional mutagenesis and their avoidance of position effect variegation.

 

Effective gene expression and therapy with non-integrating lentivectors in vivo. (Left) Integration-defective lentivector encoding eGFP was injected subretinally in adult mice. The image shows eGFP fluorescence in the fundus of the eye 9 months post-injection. (Right) RPE65-encoding lentivector was injected subretinally in RPE65-deficient mice. The electroretinograph shows electrical activity in the retina of the treated eye (but not in the contralateral eye) three weeks post-injection, indicative of the prevention of retinal degeneration caused by RPE65 deficiency (Courtesy of Prof Robin Ali).

 

Replicating lentiviral episomes

The episomal lentiviral circles do not have replication sequences and in proliferating cells they are progressively lost by dilution as the cell population expands. This makes them good vectors for transient gene expression in dividing cells, where they can provide a moderate expression level. We have recently patented and published a method in which a modification of culture conditions at the time of integration-deficient lentivector transduction allows efficient establishment of replicating episomes of wider applicability, in a collaborative project with Prof George Dickson (Kymäläinen et al., 2014).

 

Transient gene expression by integration-deficient lentiviral vectors in proliferating cells. HeLa cells were transduced at the indicated multiplicity of infection (MOI, vector copies/cell) with integration-proficient (int+) or integration–deficient (int-) lentivector expressing eGFP. The percentage of green cells at the indicated times was determined by flow cytometry. Similar percentages of transduction were achieved at 3 days post-transduction regardless of integration proficiency. Transduction percentages with non-integrating vector decline progressively as the cell population expands.

 

Genome editing

Lentiviral episomes can also be used as platforms for cassettes designed for site-specific (Moldt et al., 2008) or homologous recombination (Abdul-Razak et al., 2018) with the cellular genome. These strategies allow targeting of such cassettes to safe havens where no cellular genes will be negatively affected by the insertion event. Homologous recombination (gene targeting) can also be used for genome editing, the ideal form of gene therapy for rare inherited diseases, in which the endogenous gene is repaired (Yáñez and Porter, 1998; Popplewell et al., 2013; Rocca et al., 2014; Prakash et al., 2016; Abdul-Razak et al., 2018). The inventors of gene targeting received the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The development of designer nucleases (most famously CRISPR-Cas, but also meganucleases, zinc-finger nucleases and TALENs; Prakash et al., 2016) which can cut the target gene and thus greatly boost the frequency of homologous recombination, has been a determining event to make gene repair a credible therapeutic strategy. In some cases, even the destruction of a gene by nuclease-only genome editing can provide a therapeutic benefit, exemplified by the clinical trials exploring destruction of the HIV CCR5 co-receptor in T-cells. The nuclease genes can also be delivered to cells using lentiviral episomes.

 

Correction of a mutation by gene repair. A corrective vector carrying genomic DNA with wild-type sequence undergoes homologous recombination with the mutant gene, resulting in the correction of the genetic mutation (orange lollipop). The corrected gene is expressed under physiological regulation from its endogenous locus.

 

Research interests (continued)

 

Research group

Dr Katie Lloyd-Jones - [email protected]
Royal Holloway, University of London. Research support

Ms Sahar Akbari Vala (PhD student) - [email protected]
Project title: Replicating lentiviral episomes

Miss Melika Fard (PhD student) - [email protected]
Development of CRISPR/Cas as a treament for ataxia telangiectasia

Mr Matthew Pearson (MRes student) - [email protected]

Knockin genome editing for ataxia telangiectasia

 

Past group members and their current destinations

Dr Klaus Wanisch – Addgene, UK

Dr Martin Broadstock – King's College London, UK

Dr Céline Rocca – Genethon, France

Dr Sherif G Ahmed – Harvard University, USA

Dr Tiziana Rossetti – Sofinnova Partners, Italy

Dr María Gabriela Boza-Morán – Hamilton Bonaduz AG, Switzerland

Dr Ngoc Lu-Nguyen – Royal Holloway University London, UK

Dr Hanna Kymäläinen - Orchard Therapeutics, UK

Dr Mohammed Abdelrasul - Fayoum University, Egypt

Dr Neda Ali Mohammadi Nafchi - King's College London, UK

Dr Jamuna Selvakumaran - Royal Holloway University London, UK

Dr Marc Moore - Royal Holloway University London, UK

Dr Simona Ursu - Ulm University, Germany

Ms Ioanna Papacharalampous - Imperial College, London, UK

Mr Ben Sadler - Civil Service

Dr Versha Prakash - Arctoris, UK

Dr Ellie Chilcott - University College London, UK

 

PUBLICATIONS

All publications [PubMed]

Selected publications - Editorials, Reviews and Commentaries

 

Griesenbach, U. and Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. (2021) The British Society for Gene and Cell Therapy. Hum Gene Ther 32, 983-985. Epub 2021 Oct 4. doi: 10.1089/hum.2021.29175.ugr. [PubMed]

 

Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. and Grupp S.A. (2018) Editorial - CAR-T in the clinic: drive with care (2018) Gene Ther, 25, 157-161. doi: 10.1038/s41434-018-0023-x. [PubMed]

 

Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. (2017) Editorial: Gene Therapy, more than ever - a new vision for the journal. Gene Ther 24:493-494. doi: 10.1038/gt.2017.60. [PubMed]

 

Athanasopoulos, T, Munye, M. and Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. (2017) Non-integrating gene therapy vectors. Hematol Oncol Clin North Am, 31:753-770. doi: 10.1016/j.hoc.2017.06.007. [PubMed]

 

Bowerman, M., Becker, C., Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J., Ning, K., Wood, M., Gillingwater, T. and Talbot, K. (2017) Therapeutic strategies for spinal muscular atrophy beyond the survival motor neuron gene. Dis Models Mech. 943-954. Epub 2017 Aug 1. doi:10.1242/dmm.030148. [PubMed]

 

Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. (2017) Editorial: 10 years of Rare disease Day. Gene Ther 24, 67. doi:10.1038/gt.2017.7. [PubMed]

 

Prakash, V., Moore, M. and Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. (2016) Current progress in therapeutic gene editing for monogenic diseases. Mol Ther 24, 465-474. Epub 2016 Jan 14. doi:10.1038/mt.2016.5. [PubMed]

 

Hutson, T.H., Foster, E., Moon, L.D.F. and Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. (2013) Lentiviral vector-mediated RNA silencing in the CNS. Hum Gene Ther Methods 25, 14-32. Epub 2013 Nov 1. doi:10.1089/hgtb.2013.016. [PubMed]

 

Broadstock, M. and Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. (2012) Challenges for gene therapy of CNS disorders and implications for Parkinson’s disease therapies. Hum Gene Ther 23, 340-343. Epub 2012 Apr 10. doi:10.1089/hum.2012.2507. [PubMed]

 

Wanisch, K. and Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. (2009) Integration-deficient lentiviral vectors: a slow coming of age. Mol Ther 17, 1316-1332. doi:10.1038/mt.2009.122. [PubMed]

 

Yáñez, R.J. and Porter, A.C.G. (1998). Therapeutic gene targeting. Gene Ther 5, 149-159. [PubMed]

 

Selected publications - Primary papers

Chilcott EM, Muiruri EW, Hirst TC and Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. (2021) Systematic review and meta-analysis determining the benefits of in vivo genetic therapy in spinal muscular atrophy rodent models. Gene Ther. Epub 2021 Oct 6. doi: 10.1038/s41434-021-00292-427. [PubMed]

 

Abdul-Razak, H.H.*, Rocca, C.*, Howe, S.J., Alonso-Ferrero, M.E., Wang, J., Gabriel, R., Bartholomae, C.C., Gan, C.H.V., Garin, M.I., Roberts, A., Blundell, M., Prakash, V., Molina Estévez, F.J., Pantoglou, J., Güenechea, G., Holmes, M.C., Gregory, P.D., Kinnon, C., von Kalle, C., Schmidt, M., Bueren, J.A., Thrasher, A.J. and Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. (2018) Molecular Evidence of Gene Editing in a Mouse Model of Immunodeficiency. Sci Reports.29;8(1):8214. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-26439-9. [PubMed]

 

Ahmed, S.G., Waddington, S.N., Boza-Morán, M.G. and Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. (2018) High-efficiency transduction of spinal cord motor neurons by intrauterine delivery of integration-deficient lentiviral vectors. J Control Release. 273:99-107. Epub 2017 Dec 28. doi: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2017.12.029. [PubMed]

 

Le Heron, A., Patterson, S., Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. and Dickson, G. Chimeric Trojan protein insertion in lentiviral membranes makes lentiviruses susceptible to neutralisation by anti-tetanus serum antibodies (2017) Hum Gene Ther 28, 242-254. Epub 2016 Nov 26. doi:10.1089/hum.2016.126. [PubMed]

 

Lu-Nguyen, N.B., Broadstock, M. and Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. (2015) Efficient expression of Igf-1 from lentiviral vectors protects in vitro but does not mediate behavioral recovery of a Parkinsonian lesion in rats. Hum Gene Ther, 26, 719-733. Epub 2015 Oct 1. doi:10.1089/hum.2015.016. [PubMed]

 

Boza-Morán, M., Martínez-Hernández, R., Bernal, S., Wanisch, K., Also-Rallo, E., Le Heron, A., Alías, L., Denis, C., Girard, M., Yee, J.-K., Tizzano, E.F. and Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. (2015) Decay in survival motor neuron and plastin 3 levels during differentiation of iPSC-derived human motor neurons. Sci Rep 5, 11696. Epub 2015 Jun 26. doi:10.1038/srep11696. [PubMed]

 

Cordero-Llana, O., Houghton, B., Rinaldi, F., Taylor, H., Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J., Uney, J.B., Fong-Wong, L. and Caldwell, M.A. (2014) Enhanced efficacy of the CDNF/MANF family by combined intranigral overexpression in the 6-OHDA rat model of Parkinson’s disease. Mol Ther 23, 244-54. Epub 2014 Nov 5. doi:10.1038/mt.2014.206. [PubMed]

 

Negro-Demontel, M.L., Saccardo, P., Giacomini, C., Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J., Ferrer-Miralles, N., Vazquez, E., Villaverde, A. and Peluffo, H. (2014) Comparative analysis of lentiviral vectors and modular protein nanovectors for traumatic brain injury gene therapy. Mol Ther Meth Clin Dev 1, 14047. Epub 2014 Oct 15. doi:10.1038/mtm.2014.47. [PubMed]

 

Rocca, C.J., Abdul-Razak, H.H., Holmes, M.C., Gregory, P.D. and Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. (2014) A Southern blot protocol to detect chimeric nuclease-mediated gene repair. Methods Mol Biol 1114, 325-38. doi:10.1007/978-1-62703-761-7_21. [PubMed]

 

Bartus, K., James, N.D., Didangelos, A., Bosch, K.D., Verhaagen, J., Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J., Rogers, J.H., Schneider, B.L., Muir, E.M. and Bradbury, E.J (2014) Large-Scale Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycan Digestion with Chondroitinase Gene Therapy Leads to Reduced Pathology and Modulates Macrophage Phenotype following Spinal Cord Contusion Injury. J Neurosci, 34, 4822– 4836. Epub 2014 Apr 2. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4369-13.2014. [PubMed]

 

Lu-Nguyen, N.B., Broadstock, M. Schliesser, M, Bartholomae, C.C., von Kalle, C., Schmidt, M. and Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. (2014) Transgenic expression from integration-deficient lentiviral vectors is neuroprotective in a rodent model of Parkinson Disease. Hum Gene Ther 25, 631-641. Epub 2014 Mar 18. doi:10.1089/hum.2014.003. [PubMed]

 

Kymäläinen, H., Appelt J.U., Giordano F.A, Davies A.F., Ogilvie C.M., Ahmed, S.G., Laufs, S., Schmidt, M., Bode, J., Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J., and Dickson, G. Long-term episomal transgene expression from mitotically stable integration-deficient lentiviral vectors (IDLVs) (2014) Hum Gene Ther, 25, 428-442. Epub 2014 Feb 2. doi:10.1089/hum.2013.172. [PubMed]

 

Popplewell, L., Koo, T., Leclerc, X., Duclert, A., Mamchaoui, K., Gouble, A., Mouly, V., Voit, T., Pâques, F., Cédrone, F., Isman, O., Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. and Dickson, G. Gene correction of a Duchenne muscular dystrophy mutation by meganuclease-enhanced exon knock-in (2013) Hum Gene Ther 24, 692-701. Epub 2013 June 21. doi:10.1089/hum.2013.081. [PubMed]

 

Peluffo, H., Foster, E., Ahmed, S.G., Lago, N., Hutson, T., Moon, L., Yip, P., Wanisch, K., Caraballo-Miralles, V., Olmos, G., Lladó, J., McMahon, S.B. and Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. (2013) Efficient gene expression from integration-deficient lentiviral vectors in the spinal cord. Gene Ther 20, 645-657. Epub 2012 Oct 18. doi:10.1038/gt.2012.78. [PubMed]

 

Daboussi, F., Zaslavskiy, M., Poirot, L., Loperfido, M., Gouble, A., Guyot, V., Leduc, S., Galetto, R., Grizot, S., Oficjalska, D., Perez, C., Delacôte, F., Dupuy, A., Chion-Sotinel, I., Le Clerre, D., Lebuhote, C., Danos, O., Lemaire, F., Oussedik, K., Cédrone, F., Epinat, J.-C., Smith, J., Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J., Dickson, G., Popplewell, L., Koo, T., VandenDriessche, T., Chuah, M.K., Duclert, A., Duchateau, P. and Pâques, F. (2012) Chromosomal context and epigenetic mechanisms control the efficacy of genome editing by rare-cutting designer endonucleases. Nucleic Acids Res 40, 6367-6379. Epub 2012 Jun 15. doi:10.1093/nar/gks268. [PubMed]

 

Hutson, T.H., Foster, E., Dawes J.M., Hindges, R., Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. and Moon, L.D.F. (2012b) Lentiviral vectors encoding shRNAs efficiently transduce and knockdown LINGO-1 but induce an interferon response and cytotoxicity in CNS neurons. J Gene Med 14, 299-315. Epub 2012 Apr 12. doi:10.1002/jgm.2626. [PubMed]

 

Hutson, T.H., Verhaagen, J., Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. and Moon, L.D.F. (2012a) Corticospinal tract transduction: a comparison of seven adeno-associated viral vector serotypes and a non-integrating lentiviral vector. Gene Ther, 19, 49-60. Epub 2011 May 12. doi:10.1038/gt.2011.71. [PubMed]

 

Zhao, R.-R., Muir, E.M., Alves, J.-N., Rickman, H., Allan, A.Y., Kwok, J.C., Roet, K.C.D., Verhaagen, J., Schneider, B.L., Bensadoun, J.-C., Ahmed, S.G., Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J., Keynes, R.J., Fawcett, J.W., Rogers, J.H. (2011) Lentiviral vectors express Chondroitinase ABC in cortical projections and promote sprouting of injured costicospinal axons. J Neurosci Methods 201, 228-238. Epub 2011 Aug 9. [PubMed]

 

Bartholomae, C.C., Arens, A., Balaggan, K.S., Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J., Montini, E., Howe, S.J, Paruzynski, A., Korn, B., Appelt, U., MacNeil, A., Cesana, D., Abel, U., Glimm, H., Naldini, L., Ali, R.R., Thrasher, A.J., von Kalle, C. and Schmidt, M. (2011) Lentiviral vector integration profiles differ in rodent postmitotic tissues. Mol Ther., 19, 703-10. Epub 2011 Mar 1. [PubMed]

 

Yip, P.K., Wong, L.-F., Sears, T.A., Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. and McMahon, S.B. (2010) Neuronal calcium sensor 1 promotes functional plasticity after unilateral spinal cord injury. PLoS Biology, Jun 22;8(6):e1000399, Epub 2010 June 22. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000399. [PubMed]

 

Gabriel, R., Eckenberg, R., Paruzynski, A., Bartholomae, C.C., Nowrouzi, A., Arens, A., Howe, S.J., Recchia, A., Cattoglio, C., Wang, W., Faber, K., Schwarzwaelder, K., Kirsten, R., Deichmann, A., Ball, C.R., Balaggan, K.S., Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J., Ali, R.R., Gaspar, H.B., Biasco, L., Aiuti, A., Cesana, D., Montini, E., Naldini, L., Cohen-Haguenauer, O., Mavilio, F., Thrasher, A.J., Glimm, H., von Kalle, C., Saurin, W. and Schmidt, M. (2009) Comprehensive genomic access to vector integration in clinical gene therapy. Nat Med 15, 1431-1436. doi:10.1038/nm.2057. [PubMed]

 

Moldt, B., Staunstrup, N.H., Jakobsen, M., Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J. and Mikkelsen, J.G. (2008) Site-directed genomic insertion of lentiviral DNA circles. BMC Biotech 8: 60. doi:10.1186/1472-6750-8-60. [PubMed]

 

Yáñez-Muñoz, R.J., Balaggan, K.S., MacNeil, A., Howe, S., Schmidt, M., Smith, A.J., Buch, P., MacLaren, R.E., Anderson, P.N., Barker, S., Duran, Y., Bartholomae, C., von Kalle, C., Heckenlively, J.R., Kinnon, C., Ali, R.R. and Thrasher, A.J. (2006) Effective gene therapy with nonintegrating lentiviral vectors. Nat. Med. 12, 348-353. doi:10.1038/nm1365. [PubMed]

 

Key collaborators

Genome Editing:

Prof Adrian Thrasher (Institute of Child Health, University College London)

 

Spinal Muscular Atrophy:

UK SMA Research Consortium

Prof Simon Waddington (University College London)

Dr Melissa Bowerman and Dr Heidi Fuller (Keele University)

 

Research sponsors

Action for A-T

Association Française contre les Myopathies

BBSRC

CLINIGENE-NoE

Daphne Jackson Trust

European Union (FP7)

Genoma España and FundAME (GENAME project)

MRC

PiA

SMA Trust

Spinal Research

SWAN

The Friends of Guy's Hospital

Societies

British Society for Gene and Cell Therapy: http://www.bsgct.org
European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy: http://www.esgct.org
American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy: http://www.asgct.org
Sociedad Española de Terapia Génica y Celular: http://www.setgyc.es (in Spanish)

Lay description

Medicine has little to offer against many diseases, and this is particularly true in the case of neurodegenerative and inherited disorders, most of which are rare diseases (affecting fewer than 1 in 2,000 people). Gene and cell therapy is a relatively new field of biomedical research that is attempting to address this need by developing a new breed of pharmaceuticals based on nucleic acids (DNA, RNA and artificial derivatives). The idea is that the activity of our genes (or the genes of organisms that infect us) can be manipulated using designer nucleic acids to modify the relevant cells in our bodies, and in that way cure, ameliorate or slow down disease. As our cells are very efficient at preventing the entry of nucleic acids, scientists need to develop tools to introduce them by stealth. Viruses are very good at bringing their genes into cells, so scientists have learned to hijack viruses: they remove all the pathogenic viral genes (which cause disease) and replace them with the designer genes that they want to use for treatment. By doing this they produce viral vectors, which currently are the most efficient way to deliver nucleic acids to cells.

Many different viruses have been converted into viral vectors, and our laboratory mostly works on gene therapy with vectors derived from HIV, the lentivirus causing AIDS. In addition to removing HIV’s pathogenic (which cause the disease) genes, we make lentiviral vectors even safer by preventing them from inserting their DNA into the cellular chromosomes. This stops our vectors from affecting cellular genes in ways that could cause cancer. We are using these novel lentivectors to develop therapies for the rare spinal muscular atrophy (a progressive inherited disease affecting neurons in the spinal cord) and spinal injury, and the more common Parkinson disease (a progressive disorder in which specific brain neurons die). For these diseases we are using non-integrating lentiviral vectors to introduce extra genes that we believe may have a beneficial effect. However, for many genetic diseases the ideal treatment would be gene repair of the faulty gene inside the cell, something that can be achieved by doing genome editing (the inventors of such targeted gene modification received the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine). We are using genome editing to repair the faulty genes that cause a form of severe combined immunodeficiency (a disease of the immune system that makes patients unable to fight infections), and ataxia telangiectasia (a disease affecting movement and the immune system).

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

  • Gene therapy
  • Gene repair
  • Spinal muscular atrophy
  • Parkinson disease
  • Severe combined immunodeficiency
  • Stroke
  • Induced pluripotent stem cells
  • Viral vectors
  • Integration-eficient lentiviral vectors (IDLVs)
  • Chimeric nucleases

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or
Explore network further
View all 85 research outputs
View all 14 projects