A team of doctors from Tamil Nadu along with scientists from Japan have developed a disease-modifying treatment for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a rare genetic disease, using a food additive — a beta-glucan produced by N-163 strain of a yeast Aureobasidium pullulans.
K. Raghavan, Department of Paediatric Neurology, Jesuit Antonyraj memorial Inter-disciplinary Centre for Advanced Recovery and Education, Madurai said that DMD was a rare genetic disease that affects only male children. There are approximately 5,000 patients in Japan and 80,000 in India.
“Muscles need lubricant. Dystrophin, an enzyme secreted in the muscles, helps in wear and tear and regeneration of muscles. Because of the genetic disorder, muscles cannot produce dystrophin,” he told reporters on July 10. This damages and weakens the muscles, and patients become wheelchair-bound in their early teens and die prematurely.
