Animal models of late infantile NCL showed that the AAVrh.10 delivery system "was much more effective, giving better spread of the gene product and improving survival greatly".A third gene therapy trial, using the same AAVrh.10 delivery system, began in 2011 and has been expanded to include late infantile NCL patients with moderate tosevere impairment or uncommon genotypes, and uses a novel administration method that reduces general anesthesia time by 50% to minimize potential adverse side effects. Flupirtine
A painkiller available in several European countries, flupirtine, has been suggested to possibly slow down the progress of NCL, particularly in the juvenile and late infantile forms. No trial has been officially supported in this venue, however. Currently, the drug is available to NCL families either from Germany, Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, or the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Stem cells
On October 20, 2005, the Food and Drug Administration approved a phase-I clinical trial of neural stem cells to treat infantile and late infantile Batten disease. Subsequent approval from an independent review board also approved the stem cell therapy in early March 2006. This treatment will be the first transplant of fetal stem cells performed on humans. The therapy is being developed by Stem Cells Inc and is estimated to have six patients. The treatment was to be carried out in Oregon.Juvenile NCL has recently been listed on the Federal Clinical Trials website to test the effectiveness of bone-marrow or stem-cell transplants for this condition.
These deposits take on characteristic shapes, depending on the variant under which they are said to occur: granular osmophilic deposits (GRODs) are generally characteristic of INCL, while curvilinear profiles, fingerprint profiles, and mixed-type inclusions are typically found in LINCL, JNCL, and ANCL, respectively. Electroencephalogram or EEG: An EEG uses special patches placed on the scalp to record electrical currents inside the brain. This helps doctors see telltale patterns in the brains electrical activity that suggest a patient has seizures. Electrical studies of the eyes: These tests, which include visual-evoked responses and electroretinograms, can detect various eye problems common in childhood NCLs. Brain scans: Imaging can help doctors look for changes in the brains appearance. The most commonly used imaging technique is computed tomography (CT), which uses x-rays and a computer to create a sophisticated picture of the brains tissues and structures. A CT scan may reveal brain areas that are decaying in NCL patients. An increasingly common tool is magnetic resonance imaging, which uses a combination of magnetic fields and radio waves, instead of radiation, to create a picture of the brain. Enzyme assay: A recent development in diagnosis of NCL is the use of enzyme assays that look for specific missing lysosomal enzymes for infantile and late infantile versions only. This is a quick and easy diagnostic test.