gene therapy ointment tagged posts

A patient’s foot is tested for neuropathy. Credit: Northwestern University

For the 25% of type-2 diabetes patients who suffer from numbness and extreme nerve pain in their feet, a new dermatological treatment being tested by Northwestern Medicine scientists could potentially help prevent and maybe even reverse the neuropathy. Depleting a chemical called GM3 through genetic modification prevented the development of neuropathy in obese diabetic mice.

The researchers are now applying a gene therapy ointment to deplete GM3 and GM3 synthase, which is the enzyme that makes GM3. The hope is that this GM3-depleting ointment, applied just to the footpad of diabetic mice, will prevent or, even better, reverse the existing neuropathy...