DALLAS – March 27, 2024 – A gene therapy developed by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center for a rare disease called giant axonal neuropathy (GAN) was well tolerated in pediatric patients and showed clear benefits, a new study reports. Findings from the phase one clinical trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, could offer hope for patients with this rare condition and a host of other neurological diseases.
“This trial was the first of its kind, for any disease, using an approach to broadly deliver a therapeutic gene to the brain and spinal cord by an intrathecal injection,” said co-author Steven Gray, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Molecular Biology, Neurology, and in the Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development at UT Southwestern. “Even with the relatively few patients in the study, there were clear and statistically significant benefits demonstrated in patients that persisted for years.”
Dr. Gray developed this gene therapy with co-author Rachel Bailey, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Center for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases and of Pediatrics at UTSW. Dr. Gray is an Investigator in the Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute.
GAN is extraordinarily rare, affecting only about 75 known families worldwide. The disease is caused by mutations in a gene that codes for a protein called gigaxonin. Without normal gigaxonin, axons – the long extensions of nerve cells – swell and eventually degenerate, leading to cell death. The disease is progressive, typically starting within the first few years of a child’s life with symptoms including clumsiness and muscle weakness. Patients later lose the ability to walk and feel sensations in their arms and legs, and many gradually lose hearing and sight and die by young adulthood.
In the clinical trial conducted at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Drs. Gray and Bailey worked with colleagues from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) to administer the therapy to 14 GAN patients from 6 to 14 years old. Using a technique they developed to package the gene for gigaxonin into a virus called adeno-associated virus 9 (AAV-9), the researchers injected it into the intrathecal space between the spinal cord and the thin, strong membrane that protects it. Tested for the first time for any disease, this approach enabled the virus to infect nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain to produce gigaxonin in nerve cells, allowing them to heal the cells’ axons, which grow throughout the body.
After one injection, the researchers followed the patients over a median of nearly six years to determine whether the treatment was safe and effective. Only one serious adverse event was linked to the treatment – fever and vomiting that resolved in two days – suggesting it was safe. Over time, some patients showed significant recovery on an assessment of motor function. Other measurements revealed that several of the patients improved in how their nerves transmitted electrical signals.
One of the trial’s participants, 14-year-old Amanda Grube, has experienced improvement in her diaphragm and other muscles associated with breathing, according to her mother, Katherine McKee. However, many of Amanda’s other functions did not benefit – including her mobility.
“That’s why I hope there’s more to come from the research that can help patients even more,” Mrs. McKee said. “Amanda has dreams and ambitions. She wants to work with animals, save the homeless, and design clothes for people with disabilities.”
Dr. Gray said that in many ways, the study offers a road map to carry out similar types of clinical trials. “The findings have broader implications because this study established a general gene therapy treatment approach that is already being applied to dozens more diseases,” he said.
Although the phase one results are promising, Dr. Gray said he and other researchers will continue to fine-tune the treatment to improve results in future GAN clinical trials. He is also using this method for delivering gene therapies to treat other neurological diseases at UTSW, where he is Director of the Translational Gene Therapy Core, and at Children’s Health. Work in the Gray Lab has already led to clinical trials for diseases including CLN1 Batten disease, CLN5 Batten disease, CLN7 Batten disease, GM2 gangliosidosis, spastic paraplegia type 50, and Rett syndrome.
The GAN study was funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), Division of Intramural Research, NIH; Hannah’s Hope Fund; Taysha Gene Therapies; and Bamboo Therapeutics-Pfizer.
Drs. Bailey and Gray are entitled to royalties from Taysha Gene Therapies. Dr. Gray has also consulted for Taysha and serves as Chief Scientific Adviser.
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About UT Southwestern Medical Center
UT Southwestern, one of the nation’s premier academic medical centers, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institution’s faculty members have received six Nobel Prizes and include 25 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 21 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 13 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The full-time faculty of more than 3,100 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide care in more than 80 specialties to more than 120,000 hospitalized patients, more than 360,000 emergency room cases, and oversee nearly 5 million outpatient visits a year.
