Author Archives: Alice Melão

Boston Children’s Hospital researchers have developed a device that can detect real-time oxygen levels in mitochondria and predict the effect those levels will have on organs. Their study dealt specifically with predicting heart failure, a common consequence of mitochondrial disease. The team collaborated with Pendar Technologies on the device’s development. Their…

A global panel of leading experts in the field of mitochondrial optic neuropathies has issued a consensus statement to provide clinical and therapeutic guidance for the management of Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON). Focusing on Santhera Pharmaceuticals’ Raxone (idebenone), the only treatment approved by the European…

The latest clinical data continue to demonstrate the therapeutic potential of GenSight Biologics‘ lead candidate GS010 for the treatment of Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON), a rare mitochondrial disease. These data further support ongoing Phase 3 clinical trials. Trial data were presented at the 25th annual congress of the …

Determining the respiratory chain enzyme activity in kidney tissue samples could provide useful information for diagnosing mitochondrial dysfunction in children with renal impairment, according to a report in the Journal of Clinical Medicine. Diseases stemming from mitochondrial dysfunction can be difficult to diagnose because of symptoms similar to other…

Researchers have found more than 60 mitochondrial biomarkers that can be used to predict tumor recurrence in breast cancer patients who were previously treated with tamoxifen, according to a new study. This finding not only opens new possibilities to identify high-risk patients for cancer recurrence, allowing…

Researchers have found that a protein called Dpr1 helps cells destroy damaged mitochondria, improving the health and lifespan of middle-aged fruit flies. David W. Walker, professor of integrative biology and physiology at the University of California Los Angeles, believes the findings by his team may eventually help scientists delay the onset of several…

Mitochondrial disorders often affect several organs, but symptoms are more likely to be evident in organs like the heart that are most dependent on oxidative metabolism — the use of oxygen to convert sugars to energy. But while the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac problems related to mitochondrial disease is advancing, it still falls…

GenSight Biologics has completed enrollment in a second Phase 3 clinical trial of GS010 as a treatment for the mitochondria eye disease Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy, or LHON. Both trials are evaluating GS010 as a therapy for LHON that stems from a mutation of the ND4 mitochondria gene. The hallmark…

Epilepsy is a common manifestation of mitochondrial disorders for about half of the people with the energy-production malfunction. In most cases, doctors can use epilepsy therapies to treat epilepsy stemming from mitochondrial problems. But the treatments can worsen mitochondrial disorders that are caused by POLG1 gene mutations, according to a review…

A Phase 2/3 clinical trial of elamipretide, a potential treatment for a rare mitochondrial disease known as Barth syndrome, is now enrolling patients, the therapy’s developer, Stealth BioTherapeutics, announced. The TAZPOWER study (NCT03098797) will be conducted in McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, at the Johns Hopkins University School…