News

Researchers are calling for change in prenatal diagnostic procedures in Latvia after the first registered case of a newborn with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) type 0 was reported in the country. “[It] is crucial to be able to detect this disease prenatally in order to provide the best possible…

Muscle abnormalities observed with ultrasound imaging correlated with motor function in people with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in a recent study. While the findings varied somewhat by muscle group and SMA type, ultrasound data generally indicated SMA patients exhibited muscle atrophy and signs of fat and connective tissue…

More than a year of treatment with Spinraza (nusinersen) did not result in clinically meaningful changes in cognition for adults with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), according to a recent study. While patients did not exhibit widespread cognitive deficits, abnormal performance in certain domains was observed. Scores across most…

Researchers have developed a new mouse model that exhibits the features of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) with progressive myoclonic epilepsy, or SMA-PME — a rare type of the rare disorder characterized by seizures that typically start during childhood. The mice, which exhibited motor and sensory impairments, were found to…

Scientists at The Jackson Laboratory — a U.S.-based biomedical research nonprofit — were granted $22.8 million by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for a novel method to develop gene editing therapies for neurological disorders, including spinal…

Current therapeutic approaches have helped to improve motor function in the majority of children with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) type 1 in Spain, a study reports. The study, “Clinical and Functional Characteristics of a New Phenotype of SMA Type I among a National Sample of Spanish Children:…

Adults with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) who start treatment with Spinraza (nusinersen) tend to see the most dramatic early improvement in muscle strength in the shoulders and upper arms, a new study suggests. The treatment also tended to improve thumb strength, which researchers note may be important for…

Spinraza (nusinersen) carries relatively few side effects and nearly halves the odds of children and adolescents with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) having serious or fatal side effects compared with a placebo, according to a meta-analysis. The study, “Adverse events in the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy in…

The adoption of a newborn screening (NBS) program for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in England would reduce healthcare costs and boost the number of healthy years a patient can live, according to a recent cost-effectiveness analysis. Researchers believe such a program could capture most cases of SMA in the…

The overactivity of a specific signaling pathway may contribute to the abnormalities in clearing cellular waste that are commonly seen in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), according to experiments with patient-derived cells. This known cell survival pathway, dubbed the ERK signaling pathway, exhibited increased activity in the cells, while its…