Muscular Dystrophy News and Research

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The muscular dystrophies (MD) are a group of more than 30 genetic diseases characterized by progressive weakness and degeneration of the skeletal muscles that control movement. Some forms of MD are seen in infancy or childhood, while others may not appear until middle age or later. The disorders differ in terms of the distribution and extent of muscle weakness (some forms of MD also affect cardiac muscle), age of onset, rate of progression, and pattern of inheritance.

MDA announces 13 new research grants to advance treatment for neuromuscular diseases

The Muscular Dystrophy Association today announced 13 new research and development grants totaling $3.5 million to accelerate the development of treatments for muscular dystrophy, ALS and related life-threatening diseases.

14 Nov 2017

SLU researcher reports success in identifying new drug targets for muscular dystrophy

In a recent paper published in the journal Skeletal Muscle, a Saint Louis University researcher reports success in identifying new drug targets that potentially could slow or halt the progression of a form muscular dystrophy, an illness characterized by progressive muscle degeneration.

7 Nov 2017

Study identifies predictors of poor outcomes in Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients

A new study from UT Southwestern suggests that more people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy could live longer by identifying and more aggressively treating patients with certain risk factors.

20 Oct 2017

Specific regions of silenced DNA help define cell's identity, study suggests

The fundamental mechanisms governing how cells form an identity such as becoming a muscle cell or a nerve cell are not fully understood. Multiple diseases, including cancer, have been linked to cells going down the wrong developmental path during maturation.

13 Oct 2017

CRISPR-Gold corrects gene mutations in mice with Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have engineered a new way to deliver CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology inside cells and have demonstrated in mice that the technology can repair the mutation that causes Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a severe muscle-wasting disease.

4 Oct 2017

Novel gene therapy can inhibit, reverse multiple sclerosis in mouse models

Multiple sclerosis can be inhibited or reversed using a novel gene therapy technique that stops the disease's immune response in mouse models, University of Florida Health researchers have found.

21 Sep 2017

University Of Minnesota scientists describe breakthrough in research related to FSHD

A new study published in the journal Nature Communications describes a breakthrough in research related to facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). The debilitating genetic disease - which has no approved treatment - affects an estimated 38,000 Americans and causes degeneration and wasting of the skeletal muscles.

15 Sep 2017

Penn researchers find abnormally shortened telomeres in young DMD patients’ muscle stem cells

Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have made a discovery about muscular dystrophy disorders that suggest new possibilities for treatment.

7 Sep 2017

Potential rare gene mutation could act as predictor for schizophrenia and autism

Huntington's disease, cystic fibrosis, and muscular dystrophy are all diseases that can be traced to a single mutation. Diagnosis in asymptomatic patient for these diseases is relatively easy - You have the mutation? Then you are at risk. Complex diseases, on the other hand, do not have a clear mutational footprint.

30 Aug 2017

New technique makes it possible to look at how muscles work

Muscle malfunctions may be as simple as a slight strain after exercise or as serious as heart failure and muscular dystrophy.

23 Aug 2017

Using liquid spring technology to create bionic knee braces

We imagine a world where mobility is never an impairment: a world where limitations to natural movement caused by injury, disorder or disability are restored and where boundaries to human performance can be broken.

23 Aug 2017

Cardiac stem cells from young hearts can make older hearts young, study says

A new study from the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, Los Angeles, published by the European Heart Journal, forecasts the use of infusions of cardiac stem cells obtained from young hearts in reversing the process of aging in the human heart.

16 Aug 2017

Protein changes essential for normal adult muscle function

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have shed light on the process that guides the maturation of newborn muscles into adult, fully functional organs.

14 Aug 2017

Cardiac stem cell infusions could help reverse aging process in the heart, study shows

Cardiac stem cell infusions could someday help reverse the aging process in the human heart, making older ones behave younger, according to a new study from the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute.

14 Aug 2017

Expert highlights CRISPR’s applications, limitations, and ethical concerns

"Good morning, doctor, I am here for my gene editing appointment." In the future, could this be a greeting heard in physician offices around the world? With the introduction of CRISPR technology, genetic material can now be more easily and precisely edited, even creating changes that can subsequently be inherited by offspring.

1 Aug 2017

Preclinical study demonstrates efficacy of gene therapy in treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Researchers from Genethon, the AFM-Telethon laboratory, Inserm (UMR 1089, Nantes) and the University of London (Royal Holloway) demonstrated the efficacy of an innovative gene therapy in the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

25 Jul 2017

Cellular antennae play key role in muscle-to-fat transformation

Like it or not, as we age, our muscle cells are slowly exchanged, one by one, for fat cells. This process quickens when we injure a muscle, and an extreme form of this process is also seen in muscle-wasting diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

13 Jul 2017

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