Duchenne muscular dystrophy
RSS feedGrowth hormone to offset corticosteroid-induced growth retardation in DMD
Four boys suffering from Duchenne muscular dystrophy treated with corticosteroids (deflazacort or prednisone) had growth retardation with height varying between -3.24 and -1.85 standard deviations, growth velocity ranging from 0 to 3.25 cm/year and bone age retardation of two to four years. Treatment with growth hormone at a rate of 0.24mg/kg/week accelerated growth from 3 … [Read more]
Identification of the causes of death of the only patient treated in the first CRISPR-Cas9 gene therapy trial for DMD
American researchers have analysed the causes of death of a 27-year-old Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patient who took part in the first trial using the CRISPR-Cas9 system for therapeutic purposes in this disease: the patient had received a single intravenous injection of an AAV9-mediated genome-editing product at a dose of 1×1014 vector-genome per kilo of … [Read more]
Testosterone in DMD improves the situation but does not normalise it
The Newcastle team looked at the long-term follow-up of a cohort of 15 boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy on corticosteroids who were treated with increasing doses of testosterone for two years: the average age of participants at the end of the study was 18.7 years and the average duration of corticosteroid treatment was 11.2 years; … [Read more]
Biology of T cells in neuromuscular diseases: the case of DMD and ALS
In neuromuscular diseases of different pathogenic origins, there is growing evidence of a close interaction between the immune system, the nerve and the muscle. The aim of this review, involving researchers from the Institute of Myology and its partner FIOCRUZ in Brazil, is to analyse this phenomenon more closely in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and … [Read more]
Mixed efficacy results for SRP-9001 (Elevidys), a gene therapy approved in the USA for DMD
In a press release dated 30 October 2023, Sarepta Therapeutics announced the initial efficacy results of the Embark trial, a phase III trial of Elevydis (SRP-9001), a microdystrophin gene therapy drug approved in the United States in June 2023. The trial involved 124 participants aged between 4 and 7 years (59 aged between 4 and … [Read more]
Vamorolone (Agamree®) authorised in the USA for DMD from the age of 2; a decision expected in Europe soon
Vamorolone is a “dissociative” synthetic steroid developed by Santhera and ReveraGen for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, as an anti-inflammatory treatment alternative to conventional corticosteroids. The FDA has granted marketing authorisation for Agamree® (vamorolone) in DMD patients from the age of 2 (drinkable suspension, 40 mg/ml). Four studies of vamorolone in DMD patients aged between 4 and … [Read more]
New tools for assessing the follow-up of two forms of muscular dystrophy
Monitoring, either as part of the usual follow-up of patients with muscular dystrophy or as part of clinical trials, is largely based on the use of functional scores: researchers report, in association with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patient associations, the development of an upper limb function scale centred on the needs and feelings of patients … [Read more]
Right heart involvement in DMD is a poor prognostic factor
A study of the respiratory and systolic functions of the right ventricle on Doppler echo in 90 young men with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), with a median age of 27.5 years and a median vital capacity of 10% of theoretical, showed : right ventricular systolic impairment in 46 (51%); the presence of left ventricular damage … [Read more]
DMD: Canadian respiratory data in real life
Using data from the Canadian Neuromuscular Disease Registry, collected by 36 centres, a cross-sectional study of real-life respiratory data from 323 patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), aged between 2 and 36 years, showed that : almost one-fifth (19.5%) of 14-16 year olds were on ventilatory support, a proportion which rises to 69.2% at the … [Read more]
Study of the cardiac fibroblast phenotype derived from IPS stem cells from patients with DMD
A European consortium of researchers has studied the biological and molecular characteristics of cardiac fibroblasts generated from induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs) from Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients and control subjects: these supporting tissue cells do not express full-length dystrophin like muscle fibres, these fibroblasts show profound changes in their biochemical profiles, with activation of … [Read more]
