Programmed cell death-1-modified pig developed using electroporation-mediated gene editing for in vitro fertilized zygotes

Programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) is an immunoinhibitory receptor required to suppress inappropriate immune responses such as autoimmunity. Immune checkpoint antibodies that augment the PD-1 pathway lead to immune-related adverse events (irAEs), organ non-specific side effects due to autoimmune activation in humans. In this study, we generated a PD-1 mutant pig using electroporation-mediated introduction of the CRISPR/Cas9 system into porcine zygotes to evaluate the PD-1 gene deficiency phenotype. We optimized the efficient guide RNAs (gRNAs) targeting PD-1 in zygotes and transferred electroporated embryos with the optimized gRNAs and Cas9 into recipient gilts. One recipient gilt became pregnant and gave birth to two piglets. Sequencing analysis revealed that both piglets were biallelic mutants. At 18 mo of age, one pig showed non-purulent arthritis of the left elbow/knee joint and oligozoospermia, presumably related to PD-1 modification. Although this study has a limitation because of the small number of cases, our phenotypic analysis of PD-1 modification in pigs will provide significant insight into human medicine and PD-1-deficient pigs can be beneficial models for studying human irAEs.