Hepatic gene replacement improves energy metabolism and survival in a mouse model of neonatal mitochondrial disease GRACILE syndrome.

Preclinical gene therapy studies of mitochondrial diseases remain limited due to the typically multi-organ manifestations and the scarcity of physiologically relevant animal models. Mutations in BCS1L, a nuclear gene encoding an assembly factor for mitochondrial complex III (CIII), are the most common cause of CIII deficiency. The most severe phenotype, GRACILE syndrome, is caused by a homozygous Finnish founder mutation (c.A232G, p.S78G). The corresponding Bcs1lp.S78G knockin mouse model recapitulates the human disease, with juvenile-onset hepatopathy, tubulopathy, growth restriction, segmental progeria, and short survival. Here, we performed liver-targeted recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV)-mediated gene replacement in this model. A single intraperitoneal injection of rAAVs encoding wild-type Bcs1l restored CIII assembly and activity in the liver, preventing hepatopathy. Hepatocyte-specific correction was sufficient to alleviate hypoglycemia, improve growth, normalize systemic metabolism, and extend survival by nearly 2-fold, despite persistent CIII deficiency in other tissues. Remarkably, restoring CIII activity in the liver robustly corrected the skeletal muscle transcriptomic changes, particularly those linked to altered energy substrate utilization. These results underscore the central role of the liver in systemic energy homeostasis and growth regulation in multi-organ mitochondrial diseases and demonstrate the therapeutic potential of hepatocyte-directed gene replacement in phenotypes with prominent hepatopathy.