Limb-girdle muscular dystrophies

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Combination of ribitol and gene therapy shows synergistic effects in LGMD R9 mouse models

American researchers have sought to combine two therapeutic approaches in mouse models of FKRP-related limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type R9 (LGMD R9): oral supplementation with 5% ribitol at five weeks of age, followed four weeks later by administration of a dose of 1e13 vg/kg (low) or 5e13 vg/kg (high) of gene therapy (AAV9-FKRP). Compared with mice … [Read more]

A founder effect identified in South Indian patients with beta-sarcoglycanopathy

Beta sarcoglycanopathy is one of the four forms of limb-girdle myopathy associated with sarcoglycan deficiency. Indian clinicians have just identified an outbreak of this disease in their country: 14 patients from 13 unrelated families in southern India (the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andra Pradesh) were diagnosed with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy with beta-sarcoglycan deficiency, … [Read more]

First clinical results of a gene therapy for the treatment of FKRP-related LGMD

The initial results of the ATA-100 gene therapy clinical trial for the treatment of limb-girdle muscular dystrophy linked to the FKRP gene (LGMD2I/R9) were presented at the ESGCT congress in Brussels on 27 October. This multicentre Phase 1b/2b trial is designed to assess the safety and efficacy of a gene therapy combining an AAV vector … [Read more]

A European study clarifies the cardiac phenotype of children with muscular laminopathy

European neuropaediatricians and cardiologists have compiled the clinical and paraclinical data, in particular cardiac data, of a large cohort of 28 children with various phenotypes of laminopathy: 13 presented with an Emery-Dreifuss type phenotype, 11 with LMNA-related congenital muscular dystrophy (L-CMD), two with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy and two with moderate muscular deficiency, During follow-up, six … [Read more]

Galectin-1: an innovative therapeutic approach in dysferlinopathies

American researchers have developed a therapy aimed at correcting the phenotypes observed in dysferlinopathies (Miyoshi-type distal myopathy and LGMD type R2). Galectin-1, a beta-like galactoside binding protein, was genetically engineered and injected into model mice:  galectin-1 is thought to play a role in membrane repair and inflammation, two mechanisms involved in dysferlinopathies;  in treated mice, … [Read more]

The phenotype distinction between Myoshi distal myopathy and LGMD R2 is no longer justifiable in dysferlinopathy

Dysferlinopathy encompasses several clinical entities, having in common a deficit in dysferlin, a protein involved in muscle fibre membrane repair mechanisms. Initially reduced simply to Myoshi distal myopathy, the phenotype spectrum was rapidly extended to pure proximal forms such as limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD) R2, and especially to mixed proximal/distal forms. Dysferlinopathy is transmitted in … [Read more]