Contribution of the inflammatory reaction in the muscle in Duchenne muscular dystrophy to depression: Development of new treatment strategies
By: Dr. Deniz Yilmazer-Hanke, University College Cork
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The aim of the project is to show that antidepressant treatment can improve the course of Duchenne muscular dystrophy by exerting a synergistic action on the muscle and well-being of the patient. Therefore, it will be investigated whether antidepressive treatment reduces depression, increases the mobility, and dampens the damage to the muscle directly by reducing the inflammation.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy is an inherited disorder with progressive muscle weakness. It often starts in childhood and leads to a disability during the course of the disease. Therefore - it is thought - it is not surprising that the patients also feel insecure, anxious and apathic when the disease progresses. However, this view is questioned in the current project. It is hypothesized that the muscle illness itself makes the patient feel depressed: Like feeling sick, tired and unwell when having flu or another infection.
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There is growing evidence from recent studies that depression is a major symptom in many disorders associated with inflammation and/or tissue damage. Thus, feeling sick in muscle illness is probably not just a nasty complication of the disease but induced directly by the inflammation in the muscle. Moreover, new studies show that treatment of depression can be very effective in improving the course of diseases like heart failure, rheumatism or inflammatory bowel disease. Antidepressive treatment has therefore the potential to reduce the damage to the muscle by dampening the inflammation in muscle disease. However, these considerations are not the only reason why this project is important. The fatigue itself also worsens the muscle symptoms, because it increases the apathy of the patients and reduces their mobility. Thus, the emotional status of the patient directly interacts with the course of the disease.
To achieve these goals, muscle weakness will be correlated with anxiety and depression following treatment with a powerful antidepressant drug, which has been shown to reduce inflammation in the blood of patients suffering from heart failure and rheumatism. Therefore, depressive symptoms, and the improvement of mood disturbances following drug treatment will be correlated with the inflammation in the muscle, and signs of muscle damage in the blood.
It is expected that the antidepressant treatment will reduce both depressive symptoms and the muscular damage in a model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Dr. Deniz Yilmazer-Hanke
Prior to the MDI AGM on Saturday 23rd May 2009, Dr. Deniz Yilmazer-Hanke from University College Cork addressed the members of Muscular Dystrophy Ireland on details of her research project which MDI are funding.
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