CFTR acts as a potential therapeutic target for attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder

The occurrence of attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) is substantially higher than in the general population, and the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is the pathogenic gene of cystic fibrosis, suggesting the potentially critical role of CFTR in ADHD. Here, we identified three heterozygous missense mutations (p.E217G, p.F316L and p.T1220I) in CFTR, segregating with ADHD in two consanguineous families with 6 affected individuals. Using the zebrafish model, we found that the cftr knockout line displays hyperactive, impulsive-like, and attention deficit-like behaviors, reminiscent of human ADHD patients. Single-cell RNA-seq of 7 dpf larvae identified clusters of neuron cells that were sensitive to cftr, especially, the number of dopaminergic neuron cells decreased in the cftr mutant fish. Bulk RNA-seq and proteomic analysis at the early gastrulation period showed that the expression of nerve system genes was abnormal. Notably, we tried to use CFTR activitors Lumacaftor (VX-809) and Ivacaftor (VX-770) to treat the ADHD zebrafish model (established by per1b mutant), and found enhanced CFTR activity could rescue the ADHD-like behaviors. In brief, we uncover the role of CFTR in ADHD pathogenesis and explore novel diagnoses and therapy for ADHD by targeting CFTR. Overall design: To further investigate the molecular mechanism of ADHD like behavior induced by cftr deficiency. We collected the 7 hpf larval samples of WT and cftr+/- line, and carried out single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis to explore the molecular regulation of the nervous system.