News & Stories
See the latest news about CMT drug development and read stories from the CMT community that highlight why we must deliver treatments and cures during our lifetime.
One Million Steps to the Holidays for CMT
By: Gary Donaldson, community manager, CMT Research Foundation As I approach my one-year anniversary as the community manager for the CMT Research Foundation, I’ve thought a lot about how I should mark this occasion. I decided the best way to celebrate is by facing...
Curcumin and CMT: What You Need to Know
“Should I be taking curcumin supplements or eating more turmeric?” Many people with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) have been asking this question after researchers recently published a paper about curcumin and CMT in the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine. The CMT Research Foundation’s chief scientific officer explores the findings and what it means for people with CMT.
CMT Research Foundation Launches New Research Project to Design Precision Medicine Approach for Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease
In this new CMT Research Foundation-funded project, Drs. Lorson and Garcia at the University of Missouri will develop and test a new gene therapy approach that will both silence the abnormal gene and simultaneously replace it with genetic material that will produce normal protein. The research team will test this approach in an animal model of CMT2E that is already well understood, making it suitable for this proof-of-concept project. If the approach is successful, it could potentially be used for other forms of CMT as well. In fact, it is possible this approach could be used for many CMT-causing mutations that require both silencing of a mutated gene and replacement with normal protein — whether the mutation is currently known or has yet to be discovered. The ability to silence and replace genes, regardless of the specific mutation, is what makes this a precision medicine approach.
CMT Research Foundation Announces New Research to Study Inflammation as Potential Treatment Target for Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease
The CMT Research Foundation is proud to announce a new research collaboration with renowned nerve disease expert Dr. Rudolf Martini of University Hospital Würzburg to investigate whether inhibiting inflammation in the peripheral nerves could reduce symptoms and improve outcomes for patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease Type 1B. Read more about this project and see the four stages in the project.
CMT Research Foundation Partner DTx Pharma Wins Grant from National Institutes of Health for CMT1A Gene Therapy Program
CMT Research Foundation partner DTx Pharma, Inc., has won a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to further fund its work on CMT. The investment is significant because the CMT Research Foundation gave DTx its first CMT-related grant just nine months ago....
A Family’s Fight to Change Their Daughter’s Future
Eight-year-old Leonor struggles to walk, sit up straight and hold a glass of water. Other kids make fun of her because she has to wear leg braces. When Leonor was diagnosed with CMT, doctors said she’d ben in a wheelchair for life. Her family refuses to accept that fate, and so do we. There’s always something we can do. Learn how you can take action to end CMT.
How Breakthroughs in Other Diseases Can Impact CMT
Unlike other neuromuscular diseases, CMT patients have no approved treatments. See how we’re applying breakthroughs in SMA to advance CMT drug development.
A rallying cry for the CMT community: If not us, then who? If not now, then when?
By: Gary Donaldson The New York Times recently published an article about individuals living with rare genetic diseases who have become advocates for their conditions. These courageous champions are shaping research to change the course of their disease, despite the...
Reflections on a CMT Research Supporter
By Patrick Livney, Chairman of the Board Recently, I was contacted by Barton, a son of Charles G. Bentzin, who informed me of the passing of his father. Sadness aside, his reaching out touched me on two fronts. First, telling me how Charles “enjoyed talking with you...
Nothing Mild About CMT
By: Susan Ruediger, CEO, CMT Research Foundation When I talk to individuals with CMT or share my personal experience about living with the disease, the responses I hear can be heartbreaking, sometimes even infuriating. “At least you don’t have cancer.” “You don’t look...