NAD+ enhances ribitol and ribose rescue of α-dystroglycan functional glycosylation in human FKRP-mutant myotubes

Mutations in the fukutin-related protein (FKRP) cause Walker-Warburg Syndrome (WWS), a severe form of congenital muscular dystrophy. Here we established a WWS human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived myogenic model that recapitulates hallmarks of WWS pathology. We used this model to investigate the therapeutic effect of metabolites of the pentose phosphate pathway in human WWS. We show that functional recovery of WWS myotubes is promoted not only by ribitol but also its precursor ribose. Moreover, we found that the combination of each of these metabolites with NAD+ results in a synergistic effect, as demonstrated by rescue of α-dystroglycan glycosylation and laminin binding capacity. Mechanistically, we find that FKRP residual enzymatic capacity, characteristic of many recessive FKRP mutations, is required for rescue as supported by functional and structural mutational analysis. These findings provide the rationale for testing ribose/ribitol in combination with NAD+ to treat WWS and other diseases associated with FKRP mutations.