Clues to Muscular Dystrophy Seen in Womb WEDNESDAY June 17, 2009
-- English scientists may have found a way to detect muscular
dystrophy in the womb or shortly after birth, giving doctors
more time to treat the disease before symptoms develop. Focusing
on key proteins, University of Birmingham researchers detected
disrupted stem-cell function and delays of skeletal-muscle
formation in the embryos of specially bred mice. The scientists
found a close relationship between the severity of abnormalities
and the severity of later symptoms seen in two forms of the
disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and the milder limb-
girdle muscular dystrophy. Their findings were reported in the
July/August issue of the journal Disease Models & Mechanisms.
Although more work needs to be done, researchers were confident
that their findings had the potential to improve life for
children with muscular dystrophy, a group of incurable,
hereditary diseases that progressively weaken muscles and other
body systems. Most patients wi