[Treatment evaluation in patients with 5q-associated spinal muscular atrophy : Real-world experience].

[Treatment evaluation in patients with 5q-associated spinal muscular atrophy : Real-world experience]. Nervenarzt. 2019 Jan 07;: Authors: Walter MC, Dräger B, Günther R, Hermann A, Hagenacker T, Kleinschnitz C, Löscher W, Meyer T, Schrank B, Schwersenz I, Wurster CD, Ludolph AC, Kirschner J Abstract Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a progressive autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disease with an incidence of 1:10,000 live births. With a deeper understanding of the molecular basis of SMA in the past two decades, a major focus of therapeutic development has been on increasing the proportion of functionally capable SMN protein by increasing the inclusion of exon 7 in SMN2 transcripts, enhancing SMN2 gene expression, stabilizing the SMN protein or replacing the SMN1 gene. Since June 2017, the antisense oligonucleotide nusinersen/Spinraza® (Biogen GmbH, Ismaning, Germany) has been approved for 5qSMA treatment. Nusinersen modifies premessenger RNA splicing of exon 7, leading to stable SMN protein expression and for the first time an effective disease-modifying treatment is available. In several controlled trials nusinersen showed a favorable benefit-risk profile along with clinically relevant improvements in motor function. The efficacy was most pronounced in presymptomatic patients, which underlines the necessity for a newborn screening program and is the key to start efficient treatment prior to motor neuron death. The repea...
Source: Der Nervenarzt - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Nervenarzt Source Type: research