Enhancer elements for tissue regeneration; plus Alentis’ mAb for fibrosis and more

Duke University researchers and colleagues repoted in Cell Stem Cell that recombinant adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors designed using tissue-regeneration enhancer elements (TREEs) isolated from zebrafish selectively induced gene expression at injury sites, boosted cardiac regeneration and improved injured heart function in mouse models of ischemic myocardial infarction via constitutive expression of YAP1. TREEs in combination with CRISPR-based epigenome editing tools allowed spatiotemporal stimulation or repression of endogenous genes.

Alentis Therapeutics AG and collaborators at  University of Strasbourg and elsewhere showed in Science Translational Medicine that an anti-CLDN1 mAb reduced fibrosis in a human liver chimeric mouse model of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)...