Collaborative translational research leading to multicenter clinical trials in Duchenne muscular dystrophy: the Cooperative International Neuromuscular Research Group (CINRG).
Progress in the development of rationally based therapies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy has been accelerated by encouraging multidisciplinary, multi-institutional collaboration between basic science and clinical investigators in the Cooperative International Research Group. We combined existing research efforts in pathophysiology by a gene expression profiling laboratory with the efforts of animal facilities capable of conducting high-throughput drug screening and toxicity testing to identify safe and effective drug compounds that target different parts of the pathophysiologic cascade in a genome-wide drug discovery approach. Simultaneously, we developed a clinical trial coordinating center and an international network of collaborating physicians and clinics where those drugs could be tested in large-scale clinical trials. We hope that by bringing together investigators at these facilities and providing the infrastructure to support their research, we can rapidly move new bench discoveries through animal model screening and into therapeutic testing in humans in a safe, timely and cost-effective setting.
Research Center for Genetic Medicine (CRI III), Children's National Medical Center, George Washington University, 111 Michigan Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20010, USA. descolar@cnmcresearch.org
Diana M
DM
Escolar
Erik K
EK
Henricson
Livia
L
Pasquali
Ksenija
K
Gorni
Eric P
EP
Hoffman
D000818:Animals; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004341:Drug Evaluation; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D006801:Humans; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D020388:Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000628:therapy*; D012106:Research / Q000458:organization & administration