MDA's SEARCH FOR A TREATMENT OR CURE
MDA supports a comprehensive research program in CMT, funding promising scientific investigations in an effort to find an effective treatment or cure.
The Association also makes every effort to develop new experimental treatments whenever there is a reasonable scientific basis for doing so.
After genetic discoveries in CMT in the early 1990s provided important clues about the nature of the problem in some forms of CMT, many MDA-supported scientists and doctors focused their attention on understanding the process of myelin formation and maintenance in the peripheral nervous system.
The goal of such research is to develop drugs or other agents that could preserve or restore the structure and function of the peripheral nerve fibers and their myelin coatings. If such agents are developed, MDA will be involved in clinical trials to test them.
Recent research has resulted in the development of rat and mouse forms of the most common type of CMT (CMT1A), the type that has to do with abnormalities in a gene on chromosome 17, and a mouse form of another form of CMT, the type that results from abnormalities in a gene on chromosome 1 (CMT1B). These rodents will speed testing of potential therapies.
For further information about CMT, call or write your local MDA office (check your local phone directory under "Muscular Dystrophy Association" or use the locator on this site) , or write to the MDA National Office, 3300 East Sunrise Drive, Tucson, AZ 85718. You can call the National Office at (800) 572-1717. MDA's Internet web site is www.mda.org.
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