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Two-way Approach to Spinal Muscular Atrophy Therapy Development

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is the most commonly inherited neurodegenerative disease that leads to infant mortality worldwide. There are no known cures for SMA, but small increase in protein levels of SMN can be beneficial. We have developed adenoviral (Ad) vectors that express a human transgene of SMN and have tested their safety in vitro. We have demonstrated that these viruses can effectively express the transgene following cell entry and that the levels are relative to the virus dose. The viruses do not appear to impact the health and function of the cells, and are capable of increasing the number of Gems. We also attempted to change the tropism of the viruses through fiber protein modifications in order to target muscles and motor neurons. Our results suggest that a therapy based on an Ad-SMN fiber-modified vector may ultimately be successful in treating patients of SMA.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/26168
Date January 2013
CreatorsGoulet, Benoit
ContributorsParks, Robin
PublisherUniversité d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Source SetsUniversité d’Ottawa
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis

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