Blog Archives

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common neuromuscular disorder in boys. It is linked to the genetically determined absence of the dystrophin, a major muscle fiber protein. DMD causes progressive motor deficit predominant in the root muscles and then spreads to the respiratory muscles and the heart, all together leading to premature death. With … [Read more]

Infant spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is the second most common neuromuscular disorder in children. There are 3 types (from I to III) depending on the age of onset of symptoms and the maximum functional abilities reached. In type I, paralysis begins before the age of six months and most children die before the age of … [Read more]

The objective of this study was to describe the characteristics of patients with very-late-onset myasthenia gravis (MG). This observational cross-sectional multicenter study was based on information in the neurologist-driven Spanish Registry of Neuromuscular Diseases (NMD-ES). All patients were >18 years of age at onset of MG and onset occurred between 2000 and 2016 in all … [Read more]

Fingerprint bodies are observed in a variety of clinical situations with no definite genetic cause identified so far.  The French clinicians report for the first time the association of fingerprint bodies with rods in a patient who developed a slowly progressive myopathy affecting the face and limb extremities. Ultrastructural examination first disclosed fingerprint bodies and … [Read more]

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) is one of the most common hereditary neuropathies. It causes a sensory-motor deficit of variable gravity, generally evolving very slowly over time. Very heterogeneous from a clinical and electrophysiological point of view, but also genetic (nearly 90 CMT genes, all forms combined, have been identified so far), CMT causes distal motor deficit … [Read more]

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common neuromuscular disorder in boys. It is linked to the genetically determined absence of the dystrophin, a major muscle fiber protein. DMD causes progressive motor deficit predominant in the root muscles and then spreads to the respiratory muscles and the heart, all together leading to premature death. With … [Read more]

Among the different therapeutic approaches developed for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, several exon skipping techniques are being studied, in particular the antisense oligonucleotides and AAV-U7 gene therapy.  The France Piétri-Rouxel team (Sorbonne University – INSERM/Institute of Myology) has just published, in the Molecular Therapy review, results demonstrating the benefit of combining these to optimise the exon … [Read more]

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is the second genetically determined cause of childhood neuromuscular disease. There are three types of increasing severity (type I, II and III) depending on the age of onset and the maximum motor abilities acquired. Orthopedic and respiratory complications make the disease very serious, especially in the earliest and therefore the most … [Read more]

Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 2A (CMT2A) peripheral neuropathy, the most common axonal form of CMT, is caused by dominantly inherited point mutations in the Mitofusin 2 (Mfn2) gene. It is characterized by progressive length-dependent degeneration of motor and sensory nerves with corresponding clinical features of motor and sensory impairment. There is no cure for CMT, and therapeutic … [Read more]