Just a month before the traditional Jerry Lewis Labor Day telethon for Muscular Dystrophy - 38 years and still going - comes great news.
Muscular dystrophy reversal clue
US scientists have found a way to reverse muscular dystrophy (MD) in mice, offering hope of a cure for humans with muscle-wasting diseases.
The animals in the Nature Genetics study had myotonic dystrophy - the most common form of MD in adults.
The therapy targets a particular kind of toxic molecule to "silence" its presence in the diseased muscle.
The University of Virginia team showed the treatment fully restored heart and skeletal muscle function in mice.
In myotonic dystrophy, like the other types of MD, faulty DNA is to blame for the abnormalities that occur.