Inhibition of histone deacetylation rescues phenotype in a mouse model of Birk-Barel intellectual disability syndrome.

Cooper, Alexis; Butto, Tamer; Hammer, Niklas; Jagannath, Somanath; Fend-Guella, Desiree Lucia; Akhtar, Junaid; Radyushkin, Konstantin; Lesage, Florian et al. · Nat Commun · 2020

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Mutations in the actively expressed, maternal allele of the imprinted KCNK9 gene cause Birk-Barel intellectual disability syndrome (BBIDS). Using a BBIDS mouse model, we identify here a partial rescue of the BBIDS-like behavioral and neuronal phenotypes mediated via residual expression from the paternal Kcnk9 (Kcnk9<sup>pat</sup>) allele. We further demonstrate that the second-generation HDAC inhibitor CI-994 induces enhanced expression from the paternally silenced Kcnk9 allele and leads to a full rescue of the behavioral phenotype suggesting CI-994 as a promising molecule for BBIDS therapy. Thus, these findings suggest a potential approach to improve cognitive dysfunction in a mouse model of an imprinting disorder.

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