Dystrophin Gene Repair in mdx Mouse Myoblasts and Bone Marrow Cells as a Basis for Autologous Transplant in Human DMD

Funded Activity Summary

The muscular dystrophies are inherited diseases that lead to muscle wastage and severe disabilities. The most severe forms result in the early death of newborns, but a large number are diagnosed in children showing early mild symptoms and progress steadily to severe disabling forms in the juvenile and young adult. Perhaps the most devastating of these dystrophies is Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). This condition affects 1 in 3,300 boys, who show symptoms at around 5 years of age until wheelchair confinement by early teens. DMD boys undergo major clinical and surgical treatments which at present only provide small but significant improvements to their lives. The median age at death for Duchenne boys is 22 years. The cause of DMD has been known for almost 2 decades and is a defect in just a single component of muscle, Dystrophin which is produced by muscle cells. In general, boys with DMD possess Dystrophin which is missing an important part that prevents the breakdown of muscles during activity. As a consequence, all the muscles in DMD boys slowly break down over their lifetime until they die because the muscle which helps in drawing breath (Diaphragm) is no longer capable of helping them to breathe. The muscle component Dystrophin is produced by a gene (the dys gene) and the defect of Dystrophin is caused by a defect in the dys gene. If the dys gene defect was able to be corrected in boys with DMD, their Dystrophin may also be corrected and the breakdown of their muscle prevented. We have been able to correct the dys gene in muscle cells from a mouse with DMD. We wish to improve this technology and allow muscle to be repopulated with genetically corrected cells to form a basis for treatment of human DMD. In this way we hope to significantly improve and lengthen these boys' lives and even lead to a cure for DMD and other genetic muscle diseases.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2001

End Date: 01-01-2003

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $422,036.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Gene Therapy

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

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Other Keywords

Autologous Cell Transplantation | Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy | Dystrophin Gene Repair | Gene Therapy | Genetic Defect | Homologous Gene Repair | Muscle Degeneration | Premature Death | Targeted Gene Replacement

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