We are pleased to update our readers on the progress of the WVU-NIOSH study, “A Bi-Directional Translational Model of Exercise Training in the Treatment of Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease”, funded by HNF. The breeding pair of transgenic CMT1A rats received from the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine successfully passed through quarantine and recently produced a litter of 16 pups. The researchers plan on selecting two more breeding pairs from this group to continue the successful colonization of these animals. The remaining animals will be tested to confirm the presence of CMT1A and to characterize their muscles and nerves for future comparison to animals exposed to exercise training, and, eventually, animals receiving neurotrophic drugs/gene therapies alone or combined with exercise. The exercise testing phase is on schedule to begin late summer 2013. Once the scientists determine which exercise program produces the greatest benefit in the CMT animals, this HNF-sponsored research will progress to determine if the combination of drugs/gene therapies and exercise is more effective than either drugs/gene therapies or exercise alone.
Did you know? HNF, through the fundraising efforts of Team CMT and the generosity of HNF supporters, is responsible for the first successful colonization of transgenic CMT animals in the United States
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