After 4 years of hard work, Professor Lai Liangxue and the Li Xiaojiang’s team of Jinan University, using CRISPR/Cas9 technology and somatic cell nuclear transfer technology, successfully bred the world’s first knock-in pig with Huntington’s disease. This result was online published in the top academic journal of biology "Cell" (A Huntingtin Knockin PigModel Recapitulates Features of Selective Neurodegeneration in Huntington's Disease on March 30. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S009286741830285X).
The thesis is led by Professor Lai Liangxue and Professor Li Xiaojiang. The first author of the is Associate Professor Yan Sen from Jinan University. He was a student of our college from 2004 to 2013, under the tutelage of Professor Lai Liangxue. Researchers from Jinan University, Sun Yat-sen University, Jilin University and Yunnan Agricultural University also participated in the work. The research work was strongly supported by the National Key Research and Development Program (Establishment of Large Animal Models of Neurological Diseases and Evaluation of Stem Cell Therapy, 2017YFA0105100) with Professor Lai Liangxue as the project leader.
The study found that the model can not only simulate the typical pathological characteristics of the selective death of specific neurons in the brain of Huntington's disease patients, but also exhibit abnormal behaviors similar to Huntington's disease "chorea-like". The research provides a stable and reliable animal model for the development of new methods for the treatment of Huntington's disease, as well as a technical model and theoretical basis for the cultivation of large animal models of other neurodegenerative diseases.
In recent years, the team has made significant progress in the study of pig disease models, indicating that China has been at the forefront of the world in the research of large animal models, which will greatly promote the innovative development of China’s biomedical industry and improve the research of large animal disease models domestically.
