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Background This study evaluated the clinical characteristics of neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis type 7 or CLN7 disease spectrum to characterize the clinical, electrophysiologic and neuroimaging phenotypes. Methods We performed a single-center cross sectional data collection along with retrospective medical chart review in patients with a genetic diagnosis of CLN7. This study received ethical approval by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Institutional Review Board. A total of 8 patients were included between the ages of 4 to 6 years. All patients had a genetic diagnosis of CLN7 with homozygous or compound heterozygous mutations in the MFSD8 gene. The information collected includes patient demographics, developmental history, neurological events including seizures and neurodevelopmental regression along with further evaluation of brain magnetic resonance imaging and electrophysiological findings. The clinical phenotype is described through cross sectional and retrospective data collection and standardized tools assessing quality of life and functional skills. Results Our findings in this cohort of CLN7 patients indicated that development is initially normal with onset of clinical symptoms as early as two years of age. Language problems were noted prior to or at the onset of seizures in all cases. Gait problems were noted prior to seizure onset in 3 of 8 patients, and at or within 6 months after the onset of seizures in 5 of 8 patients. All patients followed a progressive course of language, motor, and neurocognitive deterioration. Congruent with the medical history, our patients had significantly low scores on adaptive abilities. Natural history data such as this can be used to support future clinical trial designs. Conclusions This study provides a comprehensive description of CLN7 disease, highlighting clinical data alongside standardized neuropsychological assessments, neuroimaging, and electrophysiologic data. It emphasizes the value of importance of standardized tools for understanding disease phenotype and their potential use as endpoints in future clinical trials. The findings established can provide a baseline for developing future prospective natural history studies and potential therapeutic clinical trials.

Background Leigh Syndrome (LS) is a rare genetic neurometabolic disorder, that leads to the degeneration of the central nervous system and subsequently, early death. LS can be caused by over 80 mutations in mitochondrial or nuclear DNA. Patient registries are important for many reasons, such as studying the natural history of the disease, improving the quality of care, and understanding the healthcare burden. For rare diseases, patient registries are significantly important as patient numbers are small, and funding is limited. Cure Mito Foundation started a global patient registry for LS in September 2021 to identify and learn about the LS patient population, facilitate clinical trial recruitment, and unite international patients and researchers. Priorities were to allow researchers and industry partners to access data at no cost through a clear and transparent process, active patient engagement, and sharing of results back to the community. Results Patient registry platform, survey design, data analysis process, and patient recruitment strategies are described. Reported results include demographics, diagnostic information, symptom history, loss of milestones, disease management, healthcare utilization, quality of life, and caregiver burden for 116 participants. Results show a high disease burden, but a relatively short time to diagnosis. Despite the challenges faced by families impacted by Leigh syndrome, participants, in general, are described as having a good quality of life and caregivers are overall resilient, while also reporting a significant amount of stress. Conclusion This registry provides a straightforward, no-cost mechanism for data sharing and contacting patients for clinical trials or research participation, which is important given the recruitment challenges for clinical trials for rare diseases. This is the first publication to present results from a global patient registry for Leigh Syndrome, with details on a variety of patient-specific and caregiver outcomes reported for the first time. Additionally, this registry is the first for any mitochondrial disease with nearly 70% of participants residing outside of the United States. Future efforts include continued publication of results and further collaboration with patients, industry partners, and researchers.

There are more than 10,000 individual rare diseases and most are without therapy. Personalized genetic therapy represents one promising approach for their treatment. We present a road map for individualized treatment of an ultra-rare disease by establishing a gene replacement therapy developed for a single patient with hereditary spastic paraplegia type 50 (SPG50). Through a multicenter collaboration, an adeno-associated virus-based gene therapy product carrying the AP4M1 gene was created and successfully administered intrathecally to a 4-year-old patient within 3 years of diagnosis as part of a single-patient phase 1 trial. Primary endpoints were safety and tolerability, and secondary endpoints evaluated efficacy. At 12 months after dosing, the therapy was well tolerated. No serious adverse events were observed, with minor events, including transient neutropenia and Clostridioides difficile gastroenteritis, experienced but resolved. Preliminary efficacy measures suggest a stabilization of the disease course. Longer follow-up is needed to confirm the safety and provide additional insights on the efficacy of the therapy. Overall, this report supports the safety of gene therapy for SPG50 and provides insights into precision therapy development for rare diseases. Clinical trial registration: NCT06069687 . In a phase 1 trial in a single patient with hereditary spastic paraplegia type 50, a personalized AAV9-based gene therapy was developed within 3 years from diagnosis and was well tolerated, showing preliminary evidence of disease stabilization.

BackgroundMS is characterised pathologically by focal inflammatory, demyelinating plaques. More recently, normal-appearing white and grey matter (NAWM/ NAGM) distal to these lesions have also been shown to be altered in MS, suggesting more widespread changes affecting MS brain tissue. High-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) acts as a damage-associated pattern recognition molecule (DAMP) released by activated macrophages, in addition to sensing sterile damage and propagating subsequent inflammatory responses. Whilst increased macrophage/microglial HMGB1 expression has been demonstrated previously in active lesions, we extended these findings, including analysis of non-lesional brain tissue in MS patients vs. non-MS controls.ResultsSemi-quantitative immunoreactivity (IR) analysis showed increased HMGB1 expression in active WM lesions in MS vs. control WM tissue, predominantly affecting macrophages/ activated microglial cells. However, IR was also significantly increased in non-lesional brain tissue in MS patients vs. controls, with the changes consistently marked in oligodendroglial cells in both grey and white matter. In addition, neuronal cells in non-lesional cortical regions demonstrated significantly greater cytoplasmic translocation of HMGB1. These changes were most marked in regions distal to active lesional areas ('active lesion' tissue blocks) but were also noted in the majority of tissue blocks without an active lesion ('NAWM' tissue block). Both chronic white matter and cortical demyelinating regions demonstrated reduced expression of HMGB1.ConclusionIncreased expression of HMGB1 in CNS-resident cells supports the notion of pervasive tissue alteration in MS brain tissue. Whether this expression pattern reflects a pro-inflammatory, destructive process or a protective response to surrounding cellular stress or indeed a balance between the two, is yet to be determined.