Researchers set to test MD compound

CHAMPAIGN, Ill., Sept. 7 (UPI) -- University of Illinois researchers will soon test a molecule they say may be a breakthrough in the fight against the most common form of muscular dystrophy.

The new compound binds tightly to an abnormally elongated RNA that disrupts normal cellular machinery and brings on symptoms of the disease, myotonic dystrophy type 1, the university, in Champaign, Ill., said in a press release.

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 affects about one in 8,000 people. It is a muscle degeneration disease that may be mild or may lead to a debilitating loss of muscle control and declines in organ function.

The primary cause of the disease, scientists say, is a mutant gene that contains too many repeats of the chemical letters that spell out the sequence of a gene.

"The longer the repeat the worse the disease and the earlier the onset of the disease," Illinois chemistry department head Steven Zimmerman said.

He was a co-leader of the research with his colleague, chemistry Professor Anne Baranger.