Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35813879›Full record

ArticleBrain communications2022

Malin restoration as proof of concept for gene therapy for Lafora disease.

Olga Varea, Joan J Guinovart, Jordi Duran

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Brain communications, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed
2.2field-weighted citation impact, top 12% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Adeno-Associated Virus-Based Gene Therapy for Lafora Disease inInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2025
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Neurological glycogen storage diseases and emerging therapeutics.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2024
    Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Olga VareaInstitute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona 08028, Spain.
Joan J GuinovartInstitute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona 08028, Spain.
Jordi DuranInstitute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona 08028, Spain.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8342-4882
Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Diabetes y Enfermedades Metabólicas Asociadas · ESInstitute for Research in Biomedicine · ES

Funding

Suppressing glycogen storage with small molecule inhibitors as a therapeutic approach to Lafora DiseaseP01NS097197 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY · PI GAO, TIANYAN · 2016 to 2021
$9.0M
NINDS NIH HHS P01 NS097197
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Lafora disease is a fatal neurodegenerative childhood dementia caused by loss-of-function mutations in either the laforin or malin gene. The hallmark of the disease is the accumulation of abnormal glycogen aggregates known as Lafora bodies (LBs) in the brain and other tissues. These aggregates are responsible for the pathological features of the disease. As a monogenic disorder, Lafora disease is a good candidate for gene therapy-based approaches. However, most patients are diagnosed after the appearance of the first symptoms and thus when LBs are already present in the brain. In this context, it was not clear whether the restoration of a normal copy of the defective gene (either laforin or malin) would prove effective. Here we evaluated the effect of restoring malin in a malin-deficient mouse model of Lafora disease as a proof of concept for gene replacement therapy. To this end, we generated a malin-deficient mouse in which malin expression can be induced at a certain time. Our results reveal that malin restoration at an advanced stage of the disease arrests the accumulation of LBs in brain and muscle, induces the degradation of laforin and glycogen synthase bound to the aggregates, and ameliorates neuroinflammation. These results identify malin restoration as the first therapeutic strategy to show effectiveness when applied at advanced stages of Lafora disease.

Indexed as

gene therapyglycogenLafora diseaseneurodegenerationneuroinflammation

Identifiers

PMID35813879
PMCPMC9260307
OpenAlexW4283373105

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.