Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Apr;114(4):527-36.
doi: 10.1016/j.ymgme.2015.01.014. Epub 2015 Feb 7.

Disease specific therapies in leukodystrophies and leukoencephalopathies

Affiliations

Disease specific therapies in leukodystrophies and leukoencephalopathies

Guy Helman et al. Mol Genet Metab. 2015 Apr.

Abstract

Leukodystrophies are a heterogeneous, often progressive group of disorders manifesting a wide range of symptoms and complications. Most of these disorders have historically had no etiologic or disease specific therapeutic approaches. Recently, a greater understanding of the pathologic mechanisms associated with leukodystrophies has allowed clinicians and researchers to prioritize treatment strategies and advance research in therapies for specific disorders, some of which are on the verge of pilot or Phase I/II clinical trials. This shifts the care of leukodystrophy patients from the management of the complex array of symptoms and sequelae alone to targeted therapeutics. The unmet needs of leukodystrophy patients still remain an overwhelming burden. While the overwhelming consensus is that these disorders collectively are symptomatically treatable, leukodystrophy patients are in need of advanced therapies and if possible, a cure.

Keywords: Care; Consensus; Leukodystrophy; Outcomes; Prevention; Therapy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

6. Conflicts of Interest:

MCP: Editorial: Journal of Child Neurology, Child Neurology Open (Editor-in-Chief), Journal of Inherited Metabolic Disease (Editor). Otherwise authors report no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Parikh S, Bernard G, Leventer R, van der Knaap M, Van Hove J, Pizzino A, McNeill N, Helman G, Simons C, Rizzo W, Patterson M, Taft R, Vanderver A. A clinical approach to the diagnosis of patients with leukodystrophies and genetic leukoencephalopathies. Molecular Genetics and Metabolism. 2014 In press. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Vanderver A, Prust M, Tonduti D, Mochel F, Hussey H, Helman G, Garbern J, Eichler F, Labauge P, Aubourg P, Rodriguez D, Patterson M, Van Hove J, Schmidt J, Wolf N, Boespflug-Tanguy O, Schiffmann R, van der Knaap M. Case Definition and Classification of Leukodystrophies and Leukoencephalopathies. Molecular Genetics and Metabolism. 2014 In Press. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Van Haren K, Bonkowsky J, Bernard G, Murphy J, Pizzino A, Helman G, Suhr D, Waggoner J, Hobson D, Vanderver A, Patterson M. Consensus Statement on Preventive and Symptomatic Care of Leukodystrophy Patients. 2014 In Press. - PubMed
    1. Engelen M, Kemp S, de Visser M, van Geel BM, Wanders RJ, Aubourg P, Poll-The BT. X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD): clinical presentation and guidelines for diagnosis, follow-up and management. Orphanet journal of rare diseases. 2012;7:51. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Peters C, Charnas LR, Tan Y, Ziegler RS, Shapiro EG, DeFor T, Grewal SS, Orchard PJ, Abel SL, Goldman AI, Ramsay NK, Dusenbery KE, Loes DJ, Lockman LA, Kato S, Aubourg PR, Moser HW, Krivit W. Cerebral X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy: the international hematopoietic cell transplantation experience from 1982 to 1999. Blood. 2004;104:881–888. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms