MILAN, Italy, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- A breakthrough in stem cell research in Italy appears to hold promise for people with the muscle-wasting condition known as Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

A team of researchers at Policlinico University Hospital in Milan, led by Yvan Torrente, took stem cells from children with the disease and modified them in the laboratory, then injected the cells into mice with the dystrophy. The researchers found the modified cells, which had been "trained" to synthesize a protein whose absence triggers the dystrophy, repaired the muscle damage it causes, ANSA reported Wednesday.

The researchers' findings are reported in this week's journal Cell Stem Cell.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy occurs in about two out of 10,000 people. It can be inherited or occur spontaneously. Symptoms usually appear in boys before the age of six, leaving them wheelchair-bound by age 12 and usually results in death by age 30.