Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0026850 (muscular dystrophy)
 5,870 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Garrod's important second book, Inborn Factors in Disease (1931), was about inherited predisposition to disease. Chemical and metabolic individuality, which are the modalities of predisposition, originated in 'molecular groupings' (proteins) in Garrod's view of life. Such 'groupings' as interlocus molecular hybrids, allelic complementation and expressions of modifier genes, can assume variant expression in heterozygotes. Here, it is shown that genetic variation in such 'molecular groupings' has clinical relevance, for example (1) in reproductive counselling for thalassaemia; (2) in heterozygosity where the affected enzymes are normally homopolymeric; (3) in clinical severity of 'monogenic' disease (e.g. familial hypercholesterolaemia and muscular dystrophy) when variation is not explained by allelic heterogeneity. The associated chemical individuality in each case can be used to identify risk and thus as a mode of predictive medicine.
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PMID:The salience of Garrod's 'molecular groupings' and 'Inborn Factors in Disease'. 250 15

Various kinds of lesions exist which should be discriminate from malignant or premalignant or borderline lesions. If there were a morphologic technical procedure on detection of malignant transformation of the cells at the initiation stage, before the lesion would develop a definitely identical with malignant lesion, such method must be most highly applicable for pathologists. DNA diagnosis has realized a warning of diagnosis of certain diseases or genetical maldevelopment prior to develop their clinical manifestation. Gene analysis has introduced in ++phragmatical screening test for certain diseases such as diabetes mellitus, thalassemia, T-cell leukemia or lymphoma, neuroblastoma, muscular dystrophy of Duchenne or Becker type, Ph' chromosome and so on. Immunohistochemical technology has provided an intracellular oncogene detection in some neoplastic malignancies such as n-myc in neuroblastoma. Amplification of c-erb B2 (also referred as neu and HER-2/neu) has indicated a higher malignant mammary carcinoma with poor-prognosis, even their size small and early stage. Oncogene analysis is expected to be available sperimposing on pathological morphology.
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PMID:[Detection of early stage cancer: pathological aspect with special reference to differential diagnosis]. 317 85

We report the development of a rapid nonradioactive technique for the genetic prediction of human disease and its diagnostic application to hemophilia A. This method is based on enzymatic amplification of short segments of human genes associated with inherited disorders. A novel feature of the procedure is the use of a heat-stable DNA polymerase, which allows the repeated rounds of DNA synthesis to proceed at 63 degrees C. The high sequence specificity of the amplification reaction at this elevated temperature permits restriction-site polymorphisms, contained in the amplified samples, to be analyzed by visual inspection of their digestion products on polyacrylamide gels. By means of this method, we have performed carrier detection and prenatal diagnosis of hemophilia in two families with use of the factor VIII intragenic polymorphisms identified by the restriction enzymes BclI and XbaI. Predictions can be made directly from chorionic villi, without previous DNA extraction, and fetal sex can be determined by amplification of sequences specific for the Y chromosome. Specific amplification of genomic sequences with heat-stable DNA polymerase is applicable to the diagnosis of a wide variety of inherited disorders. These include diseases diagnosed by restriction-site variation, such as Duchenne's muscular dystrophy and sickle cell anemia, those due to a collection of known mutations, such as beta-thalassemia, and those due to gene deletion, such as alpha-thalassemia.
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PMID:An improved method for prenatal diagnosis of genetic diseases by analysis of amplified DNA sequences. Application to hemophilia A. 365 65

Osmotic fragility was examined in red blood cells from dogs with a heritable muscle disorder that clinically resembles a muscular dystrophy. Several erythrocyte abnormalities have been reported in patients with certain forms of muscular dystrophy and it is thought that these changes reflect genetically induced alterations in the plasma membrane. It is believed that the examination of erythrocytes may eventually lead to the understanding of membrane involvement in muscle disorders. In this study, the mean osmotic fragility was found to be significantly lower in affected cells than in normal cells. These differences were maintained regardless of changes in incubation temperature (5 degrees, 20 degrees, or 35 degrees C) and pH (6.5, 7.0, 7.5, or 8.0). Quantitative analysis of glycolytic metabolites and adenine nucleotide concentrations revealed little variance between erythrocytes from normal and affected animals. Similarly, the pattern of membrane protein phosphorylation in intact erythrocytes from affected animals did not differ from that observed when erythrocytes from normal animals were examined. Of the red cell indices measured, the erythrocyte count in affected animals was moderately increased, but both the mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular hemoglobin content were significantly reduced. From these data it is concluded that the decrease in osmotic fragility cannot be explained by differences in cell metabolism or energy production. However, the decrease in affected cell mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular hemoglobin content may be correlated with the decrease in osmotic fragility in a manner similar to that observed in the hemolytic disorder of beta-thalassemia.
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PMID:Decreased osmotic fragility in heritable canine myopathy. 688 Nov 36

It has been estimated that greater than 35% of all human genes undergo alternative splicing. The process of alternative splicing is highly regulated and disruption of a splicing pattern can produce splice variants that have different functions. Certain splice variants that are associated with induction of cell death, regulation of cellular proliferation and differentiation, cell signaling, and angiogenesis are present in a variety of cancers. Several of these cancer-related alternatively spliced genes will be discussed in this review. In addition, alternative splicing is associated with several genetic disorders such as beta-thalassemia, cystic fibrosis, and muscular dystrophy. Control of pre-mRNA splicing patterns with antisense oligonucleotides presents an attractive way to potentially treat and manage a variety of diseases. This review will discuss potential gene targets for antisense oligonucleotide induced modification of alternative splicing patterns. Furthermore, the chemistries and delivery strategies of antisense oligonucleotides will be discussed.
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PMID:Modification of alternative splicing by antisense oligonucleotides as a potential chemotherapy for cancer and other diseases. 1218 80

Adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors are derived from a nonpathogenic, replication-deficient virus with a small (~4.7-kb) single-stranded DNA genome. AAV vectors are devoid of viral-coding sequences and may efficiently transfer genes to nondividing cells such as muscle fibers or hepatocytes following in vivo transduction. Recombinant AAV can be administered to skeletal muscle of experimental animals and, as recently documented in a Phase I clinical trial, to humans at high vector doses without local or systemic toxicity (8,9). The potential of the vector to activate cytotoxic T lymphocytes is greatly reduced compared with some other viral vectors, thereby reducing the risk of inflammation at the site of gene transfer (7,10,11). Sustained expression of therapeutic transgenes such as coagulation factor IX (F.IX), erythropoietin, leptin, insulin-like growth factor (IGF), sarcoglycans, mini-dystrophin genes, alpha1-antitrypsin, and others have been demonstrated (2,12-18). Efficient gene transfer to myofibers by intramuscular (im) injection has been shown in several species including mice, hamsters, dogs, and nonhuman primates (6-8,13,19). These studies resulted in various levels of correction of the disease phenoypes in small and large animal models of hemophilia B (F.IX deficiency), muscular dystrophy, obesity, age-related atrophy, and beta-thalassemia (8,12,13,15,17,18,20-25).
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PMID:AAV-mediated gene transfer to skeletal muscle. 1497 May 92

Gene therapy has the potential to treat devastating inherited diseases for which there is little hope of finding a conventional cure. These include lethal diseases, like immunodeficiencies or several metabolic disorders, or conditions associated with a relatively long life expectancy but poor quality of life and expensive and life-long symptomatic treatments, such as muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis and thalassaemia. Skin adhesion defects belong to both groups. For the nonlethal forms, gene therapy, or transplantation of cultured skin derived from genetically corrected epidermal stem cells, represents a very attractive therapeutic option, and potentially a definitive treatment. Recent advances in gene transfer and stem cell culture technology are making this option closer than ever. This paper critically reviews the progress and prospects of gene therapy for epidermolysis bullosa, and the technical and nontechnical factors currently limiting its development.
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PMID:Gene therapy of inherited skin adhesion disorders: a critical overview. 1946 60

Nonsense mutations, which lead to premature termination codons, are prevalent in a wide variety of cancers and many studies highlight clear evidence of functions. Based on these observations, a strategy is proposed for using various natural and synthetic derivatives based on aminoglycosides and their conjugates that have the unique property of read-through of nonsense mutations. The results and current status of this group of drugs are presented to show their effectiveness in treating other nonsense-codon-mediated diseases unrelated to cancer such as cystic fibrosis, thalassaemia, and muscular dystrophy. Concluding remarks indicate that this novel approach to cancer treatment with relatively low toxicity and reversibility of drug action as well as potential good patient acceptance and compliance ought to be now trialed for use in treating a wide variety of cancers.
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PMID:Cancer: a novel "no-nonsense" approach to treatment. 2130 6

Gene therapy is a potential treatment for severe inherited disorders for which there is little hope of finding a conventional cure. These include lethal diseases like immunodeficiencies and metabolic disorders, and non lethal conditions associated to poor quality of life and life-long symptomatic treatments, like muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis or thalassemia. Skin adhesion defects belong to both groups. For the non-lethal forms, gene therapy, or transplantation of cultured skin derived from genetically corrected epidermal stem cells, represents a very attractive therapeutic option, and potentially a definitive treatment. Recent advances in gene transfer and stem cell culture technology are making this option closer than ever. This paper critically reviews the progress and prospects of gene therapy for skin adhesion defects, and the factors currently limiting its development.
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PMID:Gene therapy of skin adhesion disorders (mini review). 2225 Jul 10