Myology research highlights

This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of aceneuramic acid extended-release (Ace-ER), a treatment intended to replace deficient sialic acid, in patients with GNE myopathy. UX001-CL301 was a phase 3, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, international study evaluating the efficacy and safety of Ace-ER in patients with GNE myopathy. Participants who could walk ≥200 meters … [Read more]

Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD) is a late-onset muscle disease affecting one per 80 000 of the general population characterized by profound dysphagia and ptosis, and limb weakness at later stages. Affected muscles are characterized by increased fibrosis and atrophy. Myostatin is a negative regulator of muscle mass, and inhibition of myostatin has been demonstrated to … [Read more]

Approval was recently granted for a new treatment for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Given that the treatment is effective when administered early and the societal burden of SMA-related disability, the implementation of a newborn screening program is warranted. The authors describe the stepwise process that led them to launch a newborn screening program for SMA … [Read more]

Currently only 25-30% of patients with axonal forms of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) receive a genetic diagnosis. A team of clinicians aimed to identify the causative gene of CMT type 2 in 8 non-related French families with a distinct clinical phenotype. They collected clinical, electrophysiological, and laboratory findings and performed genetic analyses in four different French … [Read more]

Autoimmune Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a chronic neuromuscular disease mainly due to antibodies against the acetylcholine receptor (AChR) at the neuromuscular junction that induce invalidating muscle weaknesses. In early-onset MG, the thymus is the effector organ and is often characterized by B-cell infiltrations leading to ectopic germinal center (GC) development. The microRNA miR-150-5p has been … [Read more]

On May 24, the Food and Drug Administration approved Zolgensma®, a gene therapy drug for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy developed by AveXis (Novartis). Genethon, the AFM-Telethon laboratory, played a decisive role in the design of both the product and the route of administration of this first gene therapy for a neuromuscular disease, thanks … [Read more]

Isabelle Richard’s team, a CNRS researcher in an Inserm unit at Genethon, has demonstrated the efficacy of gene therapy and determined the effective dose for treating a rare muscle disease, gamma-sarcoglycanopathy, in mouse models of the disease. Based on these encouraging results, published in Molecular Therapy – Methods and Clinical Development, the researchers are preparing … [Read more]

In this retrospective study, Dutch researchers conducted a clinico‐genetic analysis of patients with autosomal recessive limb‐girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD) and Miyoshi muscular dystrophy (MMD). Patients were identified at the tertiary referral centre for DNA diagnosis in the Netherlands and included if they carried two mutations in CAPN3, DYSF, SGCG, SGCA, SGCB, SGCD, TRIM32, FKRP or … [Read more]

In a previous limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2D (LGMD2D) clinical trial, robust alpha-sarcoglycan gene expression was confirmed following intramuscular gene (SGCA) transfer. This paved the way for first-in-human isolated limb infusion (ILI) gene transfer trial to the lower limbs. Delivery of scAAVrh74.tMCK .hSGCA via an intravascular route through the femoral artery predicted improved ambulation. This … [Read more]

Several morphological phenotypes have been associated to RYR1-recessive myopathies. A team of Italian and French experts including clinicians and researchers from the Institute of Myology recharacterized the RYR1-recessive morphological spectrum by a large monocentric study performed on 54 muscle biopsies from a large cohort of 48 genetically confirmed patients, using histoenzymology, immunohistochemistry, and ultrastructural studies. … [Read more]