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Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is an autosomal recessive disorder resulting from mutations in the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR) gene leading to the absence or dysfunction of the CFTR protein, an anion channel located at the apical surface of epithelia1,2. Recent advances in CFTR therapy have improved the prognosis of the disease, and the last approved drugs combining CFTR correctors and CFTR potentiators led to major improvements in lung function and quality of life for CF patients carrying the most frequent mutation p.Phe508del mutation (F508del)3,4. Despite this promising therapeutic progress, around 10% of CF patients are ineligible as they carry mutations that are unrescuable by these CFTR modulators. For these patients, there is a need to test other drugs or drug combinations to find the most efficient combination for specific mutations, highlighting the importance of personalized therapies.
Human nasal epithelial (HNE) cells are easy to collect by simple, non-invasive nasal brushing and allow quantification of cyclic AMP-mediated Chloride (Cl−) transport as an index of CFTR function. HNE cells yield an accurate model of human airway, but their lifespan is limited in culture. Thanks to the optimization of culture techniques, patient-derived primary HNE cells can be conditionally reprogrammed with Rho-associated kinase inhibitor (ROCKi), amplified, and differentiated into a pseudo-stratified epithelium in air-liquid interface (ALI) conditions on microporous filters5,6. Numerous culture protocols for HNE culture exist (commercially available, serum-free, "homemade", co-culture with feeder-cells, etc.), and choice of media and culture conditions have been described to impact growth, cell population differentiation and epithelial function7,8. The protocol here presents a simplified, feeder-free, ROCKi amplification method that allows to successfully obtain a large number of HNE cells that are then differentiated at ALI for CFTR function assays.
We have demonstrated that, in differentiated HNE cells, a 48 h treatment with CFTR modulators is sufficient to induce electrophysiological correction of CFTR dependent Cl- current and that the correction observed in vitro may be correlated with the patient's clinical improvement9. HNE cells, therefore, represent an appropriate model not only for fundamental CF research but for pre-clinical studies with patient-specific CFTR modulator testing. In this context of personalized therapy, the goal of the protocol was to validate that cryopreserved HNE cells from CF patients, grown in our conditions, were an appropriate model for CFTR correction studies, and similar results could be expected when comparing CFTR dependent Cl- transport from fresh and frozen-thawed cells. The study also assessed different CFTR modulators' efficacy when using dual and triple therapies.