Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy
RSS feedAn update on good practice in molecular biology for FSHD
Despite substantial advances in its pathophysiology, muscular dystrophy or facioscapulohumeral myopathy (FSHD) remains a complex muscular disease with at least two genes involved. An international consortium has revised the 2012 recommendations on genetic diagnosis:
- the European consortium dedicated to clinical trials in FSH took the lead on this revision following an ENMC workshop devoted to this subject in 2022,
- experts from the United States, India, Japan, Australia, South Africa and Brazil were added,
- the entire consortium took part in six sessions to exchange ideas and compare practices, taking into account new technologies such as molecular combing and opto-genomic mapping,
- diagnostic procedures were standardised for both FSHD1 and FSHD2, including prenatal diagnosis.
This revision was all the more necessary and useful given the growing number of clinical trials in the field of FSHD.
Results of losmapimod and antioxidants in FSHD
New trial results have recently been published for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FHSD). For losmapimod, they show that :
- in a phase II trial involving 80 people with FSHD1 aged between 18 and 65, the product slowed the progression of the disease compared with placebo,
- MRI images showed a slowdown in the replacement of muscle cells by fatty tissue in certain muscles,
- patients reported significant clinical improvements with losmapimod (PROM),
- no significant difference was observed in muscle expression of DUX4-regulated genes in losmapimod or placebo (primary endpoint of the trial).
With antioxidants, the results of a trial conducted at Montpellier University Hospital (NCT01596803) showed an improvement in muscle volume and quality, muscle strength and antioxidant response in 10 patients compared with 10 others who received a placebo.
The importance of developing strategies to manage altered facial expression in FSH
Facial impairment is present in 75% of people with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), and represents a significant psychosocial burden for a third. Given this distress, a team of Dutch clinicians looked at the treatments and psychosocial interventions used in FSHD and other pathologies where facial expression is impaired, such as facial paralysis, Moebius syndrome, myotonic … [Read more]
Ultrasound versus MRI for FSHD
A comparison five years apart of ultrasound and MRI scans of five leg muscles from 20 people with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), aged between 35 and 77, showed that: 95% had FSHD type 1, one person had FSHD type 2; 90% of patients were symptomatic; 17% of initially normal muscles had an increase in their … [Read more]
Overview of neuromuscular diseases
After a brief reminder of the structure of the motor unit and the various modes of inheritance, this document provides short descriptions of the neuromuscular diseases that are part of our scope at AFM-Téléthon, as well as how to manage and treat them. For each group of diseases, as well as in the motor unit … [Read more]
Sleep disordered breathing in slowly progressive myopathies: beyond alveolar hypoventilation
A French retrospective study of the records of 149 adults with an average age of 46.5 years and suffering from myotonic dystrophy (45) , myasthenia (20), Pompe disease (9), spinal muscular atrophy (8), facioscapulohumeral myopathy (8), Duchenne myopathy (5), Becker myopathy (1) or another neuromuscular disease (53) explored by respiratory polygraphy, nocturnal transcutaneous capnography and … [Read more]
More gastrointestinal and genitourinary disorders than expected in FSHD
The results of a survey on facioscapulohumeral myopathy (FSHD) carried out by the FSHD Society among 701 adult respondents highlighted : difficulties swallowing food at least once a week for 16% of them and the need, for 25%, to adapt the way they eat to get round these problems, constipation, bladder problems, abdominal pain, etc. … [Read more]
FSHD: searching for the ideal biomarker
British and Dutch researchers have joined forces to discover a possible biological marker for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD): in view of the disappointing and/or contradictory results of studies of DUX4 gene expression in FSHD myopathy, the researchers focused their attention on genes repressed by PAX7, another gene involved in myogenesis and also interacting with DUX4, … [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]
