Close X
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
ADVT 
Health

Treatment of muscular dystrophy possible

Darpan News Desk IANS, 08 Sep, 2014 08:33 AM
    In what could lead to the discovery of drugs to treat muscle weakening diseases such as muscular dystrophy, researchers have discovered a signalling pathway responsible for reducing aged stem cells' ability to repair muscle.
     
    As people age, stem cells gradually lose their capacity to repair damage, even from normal wear and tear.
     
    As muscle stem cells age, their reduced function is a result of a progressive increase in the activation of a specific signalling pathway that transmits information to a cell from the surrounding tissue.
     
    The particular culprit identified by the researchers is called the JAK/STAT signalling pathway.
     
    "What is really exciting to our team is that when we used specific drugs to inhibit the JAK/STAT pathway, the muscle stem cells in old animals behaved the same as those found in young animals," said Michael Rudnicki, a professor from the University of Ottawa in Canada.
     
    "These inhibitors increased the older animals' ability to repair injured muscle and to build new tissue," Rudnicki added.
     
    With this discovery, the researchers are exploring the therapeutic possibilities of drugs to treat muscular dystrophy and such other muscle weakening diseases.
     
    The drugs used in this study are commonly used for chemotherapy and the team is now looking for less toxic molecules that would have the same effect.
     
    The findings appeared online in the journal Nature Medicine.

    MORE Health ARTICLES

    Mentally ill women face increased risk of sexual assault

    Mentally ill women face increased risk of sexual assault
    Despite public concern about violence being perpetrated by patients with mental illness, researchers have found that women with severe mental...

    Mentally ill women face increased risk of sexual assault

    Sex hormones linked to sudden cardiac arrest

    Sex hormones linked to sudden cardiac arrest
    In what could lead to prevention of sudden cardiac arrest, a study led by an Indian-origin cardiologist has found that levels of sex hormones in the blood are linked to the heart rhythm disorder....

    Sex hormones linked to sudden cardiac arrest

    Why obesity runs in families

    Why obesity runs in families
    That parental obesity affects the likelihood of children to over-eat and develop obesity is known, but researchers have now identified the genetic...

    Why obesity runs in families

    Watch your diet to reduce diabetes risk

    Watch your diet to reduce diabetes risk
    Losing weight may be good but not enough to prevent Type 2 diabetes as researchers have shown that you do not have to be overweight to have elevated levels of...

    Watch your diet to reduce diabetes risk

    Special team in PMO will fast-track Japanese investment: Modi

    Special team in PMO will fast-track Japanese investment: Modi
    Assuring the same quick reaction and proactive response a Japanese investor accorded when he was chief minister of Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra...

    Special team in PMO will fast-track Japanese investment: Modi

    Women at greater stroke risk from resistant hyper-tension

    Women at greater stroke risk from resistant hyper-tension
    The condition known as Resistant Hyper-tension increases stroke risk by 35 percent in women and 20 percent in elderly patients, according to new research....

    Women at greater stroke risk from resistant hyper-tension