http://jmg.bmj.com/content/41/3/224.full.html Updated information and services can be found at: These include: References http://jmg.bmj.com/content/41/3/224.full.html#related-urls Article cited in: http://jmg.bmj.com/content/41/3/224.full.html#ref-list-1 This article cites 20 articles, 4 of which can be accessed free at: service Email alerting the top right corner of the online article. Receiv...

Spinal muscular atrophy and spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy are characterized by lower motor neuron loss and muscle atrophy. Although it is accepted that motor neuron loss is a primary event in disease pathogenesis, inherent defects in muscle may also contribute to the disease progression and severity. In this review, we discuss the relative contributions of primary pathological processes in...

Significant strides have been made during the past decade in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms that lead to the autosomal recessive motor neuron disease spinal muscular atrophy. Genetic studies revealed that spinal muscular atrophy is caused by mutation of the telomeric copy of the survival motor neuron gene ( SMN1), with all patients retaining at least one copy of the centromeric f...

Background: Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal-recessive disorder resulting in progressive muscle weakness. In August 2017, the Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária (ANVISA) approved first treatment for SMA, a drug named nusinersen that administered intrathecally. However, many patients with SMA have neuromuscular scoliosis or spinal instrumentation challenging intrathecal access...

Spinal Muscular Atrophy is due to the loss of SMN1 gene function. The duplicate gene SMN2 produces some, but not enough, SMN protein because most transcripts lack exon 7. Thus, promoting the inclusion of this exon is a therapeutic option. We show that a somatic gene therapy using the gene for a modified U7 RNA which stimulates this splicing has a profound and persistent therapeutic effect on th...

Reduction of the survival of motor neurons (SMN) protein levels causes the motor neuron degenerative disease spinal muscular atrophy, the severity of which correlates with the extent of reduction in SMN. SMN, together with Gemins 2 to 7, forms a complex that functions in the assembly of small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particles (snRNPs). Complete depletion of the SMN complex from cell extracts ...

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Diagnosis and classification of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in childhood are based on clinical, electrophysiological, and histological studies. The concept of maturational arrest of motoneurons and their targets (muscle cells in SMA type I) is documented by ultrastructural and immunohistochemical data. The prolongated or markedly delayed process of muscle cell and motoneuron elimination by ap...