Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Understanding of Spinal Muscular Atrophy Improved With Use of Stem Cells

Source: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Date: June 19, 2012

Summary:

LOS ANGELES – Cedars-Sinai’s Regenerative Medicine Institute has pioneered research on how motor-neuron cell-death occurs in patients with spinal muscular atrophy, offering an important clue in identifying potential medicines to treat this leading genetic cause of death in infants and toddlers. The study, published in the June 19 online issue of PLoS ONE, extends the institute’s work to employ pluripotent stem cells to find a pharmaceutical treatment for spinal muscular atrophy or SMA, a genetic neuromuscular disease characterized by muscle atrophy and weakness.