Results from a recent study published in the journal Cell provide a new potential therapeutic avenue for preventing the transgenerational transmission of human mitochondrial diseases caused by mutations in mtDNA, the DNA located in the mitochondria. Mitochondria are double-membrane cellular organelles of bacterial origin that play…
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Mitochondrial disorders are complex conditions for which few treatments are available. Now, using microscopic worms, researchers at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), are researching if existing human drugs aimed at improving metabolism and restore shortened lifespans, can open the opportunity for human clinical trials on innovative therapies for these…
In a new study entitled “Pathogenic mitochondrial mt-tRNAAla variants are uniquely associated with isolated myopathy,” authors report to have identified in two patients with isolated myopathy (a muscular disease characterized by deficient muscle fibers resulting in muscular weakness) two novel variants in the mitochondria DNA, specifically in…
Researchers at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) headed by Marni J. Falk, M.D., director and attending physician in the Mitochondrial-Genetic Disease Clinic, focused on a group of respiratory enzymes (called respiratory chain RC enzymes), which are essential for the production of energy. When disrupted (due to mitochondrial defects and mutations…
Raptor Pharmaceuticals Inc. is looking to bring relief to a wide variety of young patients with inherited mitochondrial disease through its therapeutic called RP103 (cysteamine bitartrate delayed-release capsules). A Phase 2/3 clinical trial is currently recruiting and treating patients with diseases resulting from nuclear or mitochondrial DNA mutations, which…
A collaboration between researchers from Leeds’ St. James’s University Hospital, University College London (UCL) and the Institute of Child Health (UCL) identified a gene mutation affecting mitochondrial calcium (Ca2+) levels in individuals with muscular disease (myopathy), learning and movement deficits. The study included data collected by the UK10K Consortium and…
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