Anti-cancer drugs promising for muscular dystrophy

NEW YORK, Sep 19 (Reuters) Studies in mice show that a group of drugs currently being evaluated as anti-cancer agents promotes recovery from muscular dystrophy, a disease marked by progressive weakness and degeneration of the muscles that control movement for which there is no cure.

Previous reports have shown that agents that increase muscle fiber size can slow the functional decline of ''dystrophic'' muscles, the scientists note in the journal Nature Medicine.

In the current study, Dr. P. L. Puri, from The Burnham Institute in La Jolla, California, and colleagues show that the anti-cancer drug trichostatin A can increase muscle fiber size in two mouse models of muscular dystrophy.

Treatment with trichostatin A rendered the dystrophic muscles resistant to contraction-related degeneration and was associated with functional and morphological recovery.

''We have identified a new rationale for treating muscular dystrophy, aimed at correcting the devastating effects of a single flawed gene,'' Puri said in a statement.

''This is a significant advance over the use of steroid -- currently the only treatment available -- which offers palliative relief, often with severe side effects.'' Puri said that ''extensive investigation'' is now required to determine if these animal findings also apply to humans with muscular dystrophy. ''It is difficult to predict how long it will take before these studies will be translated into therapies for human patients,'' he added.

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