Blog Archives

This review focuses on the advances that have been made in understanding the genetics of the idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) in the past 2 years, with a particular emphasis on polymyositis, dermatomyositis and inclusion body myositis. Two large human leukocyte antigen (HLA) imputation studies have confirmed a strong association with the 8.1 ancestral haplotype in … [Read more]

To date, a quality of life (QOL) measure specific for MG does not exist in French. Here, translation and cross-cultural adaption of the French Myasthenia Gravis Quality of Life Scale (MG-QOL 15) followed by reliability and validity evaluations were performed in 125 French myasthenic patients. Internal consistency was excellent (Cronbach alpha = 0.92) as was … [Read more]

Drisapersen induces exon 51 skipping during dystrophin pre-mRNA splicing and allows synthesis of partially functional dystrophin in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients with amenable mutations. This 188-week open-label extension of the dose-escalation study assessed the long-term efficacy, safety, and pharmacokinetics of drisapersen (PRO051/GSK2402968), 6 mg/kg subcutaneously, in 12 DMD subjects. Dosing was once weekly for … [Read more]

With the widespread prescription and use of statins to decrease morbidity from myocardial infarction and stroke, it has been noted that approximately 5% of all statin users experience muscle pain and weakness during treatment. In a smaller proportion of patients, the myopathy progressed to severe morbidity marked by proximal weakness and severe muscle wasting. The … [Read more]

This article dexcribes a new early-onset neuromuscular disorder due to a homozygous loss-of-function variant in the kyphoscoliosis peptidase gene (KY). A 7.5-year-old girl with walking difficulties from 2 years of age presented with generalized muscle weakness; mild contractures in the shoulders, hips and feet; cavus feet; and lordosis but no scoliosis. She had previously been … [Read more]

Randomized controlled trials investigating exercise training programs in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) patients are scarce and of short duration only. This study assessed the safety and efficacy of a 6-month home-based exercise training program on fitness, muscle, and motor function in 16 FSHD patients who were randomly assigned to training (TG) and control (CG) groups … [Read more]

In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, ascending dose trial, ACE-03, a myostatin inhibitor, was administered subcutaneously every 2-4 weeks to Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). boys. The primary objective was safety evaluation and secondary objectives included characterization of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. ACE-031 was not associated with serious or severe adverse events. However, the study was stopped after … [Read more]

MyomiRs are muscle-specific microRNAs (miRNAs) that regulate myoblast proliferation and differentiation. Extracellular myomiRs (ex-myomiRs) are highly enriched in the serum of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) patients and dystrophic mouse models and consequently have potential as disease biomarkers. The biological significance of microRNAs present in the extracellular space is not currently well understood. In this study, … [Read more]

With the advent of whole exome sequencing, cases where no pathogenic coding mutations can be found are increasingly being observed in many diseases. In two large, distantly-related families that mapped to the Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathy CMTX3 locus at chromosome Xq26.3-q27.3, all coding mutations were excluded. Using whole genome sequencing, the authors of this study found a … [Read more]

Proximal spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a common fatal autosomal recessive disorder caused by deletion or mutation of the survival of motor neuron 1 (SMN1). Here, the authors studied SMA molecular pathology in 653 Chinese patients and found approximately 88.2% with homozygous SMN1 exon 7 deletion and 6.3% with heterozygous exon 7 loss using multiplex … [Read more]