Finding a Cure for Fragile X
Astrocytes are star-shaped cells that make up one fifth of all cells in the human brain. Recently researchers found a specific pathway in astrocytes that is overactive in Fragile X syndrome, and they hope to bring this pathway back to normal with a drug. With this grant, the team will try to correct the pathway in Fragile X mice. The hope is that they will find a new potential treatment approach for Fragile X syndrome.
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Did you know that depression is more common in those with autism and/or Fragile X? Even more disturbing is the discovery that current treatments for depression do not work in Fragile X mice. With this grant, the team will work to develop a rapid screening tool to identify FDA-approved drugs which can treat depression in people with Fragile X syndrome.
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Dr. Stephen T. Warren passed away on June 6, 2021. In 1991, Dr. Warren discovered the genetic mutation which causes Fragile X Syndrome and named it FRAXA. Donations can be made in his honor to FRAXA Research Foundation.
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Meet #FriendofFRAXA Tyler! If you would like to nominate someone as a #FriendofFRAXA, we welcome all who have been touched by Fragile X, including friends, grandparents, siblings, professionals and companions alike to become a #FriendofFRAXA with the goal of putting a face to Fragile X for those who may not know someone directly.
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Why is it so hard to find the right medications to help people with Fragile X? Just as Fragile X affects individuals differently, medications do as well. This project aims to bring personalized medicine to Fragile X syndrome.
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With a $90,000 grant from FRAXA, Dr. Cara Westmark’s team will use mice to determine if more palatable Atkins-type diets can improve sleep and boost learning skills for those with Fragile X.
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We have long suspected that the clinical trials of mGluR5 blockers from Novartis and Roche failed because the drug triggered tolerance, losing effect over time. With a $90,000 grant from FRAXA, Dr. Patrick McCamphill, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the MIT lab of Dr. Mark Bear, is investigating. He does indeed find tolerance, and now he is looking for ways to overcome it.
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Zynerba Pharmaceuticals reported receiving advice from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the design of an upcoming Phase 3 clinical trial meant to confirm previous trial findings supporting Zygel as a cannabidiol treatment in a specific subset of Fragile X syndrome patients. The new trial, called RECONNECT, is expected to launch before October, and will mainly enroll children and adolescents with a complete (100%) methylation of FMR1, the gene mutated in Fragile X.
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FRAXA Research Foundation is spreading awareness across the world! We’d love to see you light up our world on July 22 as part of World Fragile X Day!
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With a promising new treatment on the horizon, NPR reflects back at the past 10 years, providing a glimpse into both the science and research of Fragile X through the eyes of key researchers, in addition to the lives of this family, their quest for a cure, and what that may look like for their son, Andy.
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The FRAXA Drug Validation Initiative (FRAXA-DVI) provides speedy, cost-effective, objective preclinical testing of potential Fragile X treatments. FRAXA-DVI uses in-vitro systems, behavior batteries, and gene expression and peripheral biomarker platforms to validate investigational new drugs and repurposed available compounds in Fragile X syndrome (FXS).
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FRAXA Research Foundation is excited that long time Fragile X advocate and well-known figure within the Fragile X community, Holly Roos, is joining our team as Community Services Director. We are thrilled with the energy and enthusiasm Holly brings to the team.
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Today, Tetra Therapeutics published the full results of its PDE4D trial published the full results to their announcement. Now having reviewed the full results, FRAXA can confidently say that the PDE4D drug trial gives hope to patients and families that Fragile X Syndrome is a treatable disorder, and this particular drug can improve intellectual disability.
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Within the past month, FRAXA Research Foundation has signed on to join the Friends of of National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), asking for an increase government funding to research disorders such as Fragile X syndrome.
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In November 2020, a phase II clinical trial reported extremely successful results. This clinical trial of a PDE4D inhibitor from Tetra Pharmaceuticals was conducted by Dr. Elizabeth Berry-Kravis at Rush University Medical Center and funded by FRAXA Research Foundation. In this Simons Foundation lecture, Elizabeth Berry-Kravis traces 30 years of Fragile X research, from identifying its cause, through finding dozens of treatment targets, through a series of disappointing clinical trials.
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FRAXA Research Foundation has awarded a $90,000 research grant to Stanford University principal investigators Dr. Philippe Jacques Mourrain and Dr. Gordon Wang, along with postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Rochelle Coulson. They are evaluating additive effects of combinatorial drug treatments to correct a broad spectrum of deficits observed in Fragile X syndrome.
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Dr. Carol Wilkinson, MD PhD, and Dr. Charles Nelson, PhD, at Boston Children’s Hospital are recruiting children ages 2-7 years with Fragile X syndrome to participate in a study of brain differences using non-invasive EEG.
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When a team of elementary school teachers and therapists asked us to share strategies for working with young children who have Fragile X syndrome, we developed this session featuring tips, techniques, and stories. Katie Clapp, co-founder of FRAXA Research Foundation and parent of a young man with Fragile X, and Tracy Antonelli, whose two teenage boys have Fragile X, present this session to help teachers assist their students.
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A study funded by FRAXA in Italy has encouraging results for people with Fragile X: drugs that block adenosine receptors (A2A) reversed signs of Fragile X in a mouse model.
“One of the most intriguing things about this study is that it points to an entire drug class (not just the one drug used) as potentially therapeutic for Fragile X. Many available compounds block A2A receptors, and we know they are safe and effective.
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Thank you Talk Fragile X for having FRAXA’s cofounder Katie Clapp as a guest on your podcast! It was a pleasure to share why FRAXA got started and our motivation for finding effective treatments and ultimately a cure for Fragile X syndrome.
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This FRAXA-funded project has turned up some surprising results. At first, it might seem Kurosaki and Maquat have found yet another cellular process which is malfunctioning in Fragile X. But this finding is intimately related to previous findings of abnormal protein synthesis and misregulated transcription in Fragile X. FMRP (the protein lacking in Fragile X syndrome) is involved in chaperoning messenger RNAs within cells to active sites, and in controlling their translation into many different proteins. Some of these proteins are transcription factors, which feed back to the nucleus to control gene expression.
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The two COVID-19 vaccines that recently received emergency approval from the US and other worldwide regulatory agencies are expected to pose little risk to the rare disease community, including to patients with compromised immune systems or those participating in gene therapy studies.
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The National Fragile X Foundation (NFXF) will host a virtual patient-focused drug development (PFDD) meeting for fragile X syndrome on March 3.
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2020 was a year we will never forget. Because of this incredible community and dedicated supporters, we were able to pull through the most difficult year most of us have experienced.
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FRAXA plans to fund $1 million for a generous number of Fragile X research grants and fellowships in 2021. Our mission is to find specific treatments and ultimately a cure for Fragile X syndrome. We aim to bring practical treatment into current medical practice as quickly as possible; we prioritize projects that have a clear practical application and the results of which will be shared in a timely fashion.
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