The Briefing Room
General Category => Health/Education => Topic started by: PeteS in CA on September 13, 2021, 10:50:15 pm
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New hope for antibody to treat muscular dystrophy
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-09-antibody-muscular-dystrophy.html (https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-09-antibody-muscular-dystrophy.html)
Northwestern Medicine scientists have developed an antibody that they believe can be used to treat muscular dystrophy, findings that were published in Science Translational Medicine.
"We believe this can become a therapy for muscular dystrophy, including the many different forms of muscular dystrophy," said senior study author Elizabeth McNally, MD, Ph.D., director of the Center for Genetic Medicine and the Elizabeth J. Ward Professor of Genetic Medicine. "Given the success with so many other antibodies in treating chronic human diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis, we are very optimistic this antibody can translate into the human disease setting."
The antibody targets the TGF-beta pathway, a pathway known to be important for regulating scarring (fibrosis). In muscular dystrophy, the muscles become scarred over time, and this antibody helps reduce scarring in the muscles. With this treatment the muscles also became stronger.
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About 300,000 people in the U.S. live with muscular dystrophy. There are currently only a small number of treatments for a tiny percentage of patients who have very specific gene mutations. Most patients with muscular dystrophy have no therapeutic options.
As Instapundit Glenn Reynolds said, "FASTER, PLEASE" (his all-caps).