Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have recently found out that the probable reason behind the muscle wasting and eventual death experienced and suffered by most children suffering from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is the inability of the human muscle stem cells to keep up with the harm done by the said disorder.
This revelation was put to test on the mice used for the study. According to Dr. Helen Blau of the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, “Patients with muscular dystrophy experience chronic muscle damage, which initiates a never-ending cycle of repair and wasting. We found that in mice, the muscle stem cells can keep up with the demands on them to cycle.”
Blau also admits, “Finding out that this is a stem cell defect is really exciting. In the early 1980s we reported that muscle cells from DMD patients had less capacity to divide but we did not have the tools to figure out why, since muscle stem cells, the dystrophin gene and telomere function had yet to be identified. Finally, now we can get a handle on what is going on, and learn how best to target future therapies. Having a mouse model that mimics the human disease will benefit all in the field and is very exciting for patients.” Hence, the study suggests that a successful treatment should begin early even before the stem cells diminish in number.
