lovastatin Archives • Fragile X Research

Clinical Trial of Combined Treatment of Minocycline and Lovastatin in Fragile X Syndrome

FRAXA Research Foundation 2015 Grants, 2016 Grants, 2017 Grants, Biomarkers, Clinical, Clinical Trials, Current Research Grants, Francois Corbin, MD, PhD, University of Sherbrooke, Canada October 3, 2017April 30, 2018lovastatin, minocycline

With a $66,714 grant from the FRAXA Research Foundation awarded over 2015-2017, Dr. Francois Corbin at the Universite of Sherbrooke will test the safety and synergistic effects of lovastatin and minocycline in patients with fragile X syndrome.

Double Down: Fragile X Clinical Trial Combines Two Available Drugs

Theodore Coutilish Clinical, Clinical Trials, Francois Corbin, MD, PhD, Research Updates, University of Sherbrooke, Canada May 16, 2016April 30, 2018lovastatin, minocycline

Jean-Francois Lepage, PhD, and Francois Corbin, MD, PhD, with MRI machine If all the science world’s a stage, fragile X researchers are more than merely players. They are center stage. So believes Francois Corbin, MD, PhD, professor, Université de Sherbrooke, Canada, who directs the university’s Fragile X Clinic. Corbin, who has received more than $100,000 in FRAXA support since 2012, is leading a pilot randomized Phase II trial, exploring the tolerability and the synergistic effect of a combined therapy. They will combine minocycline, which is often used to treat acne, and lovastatin, which is used to lower cholesterol. Both drugs target specific alterations in the brain of fragile X patients that would potentially have a combined powerful effect on their behavior. “To my knowledge, this is the first time we have a clinical trial with two different drugs combined to act on two different targets,” Corbin said. “The combined actionRead more

Lovastatin discovery in Fragile X mice leads FRAXA to fund Clinical Trials

FRAXA Research Foundation Emily Osterweil, PhD, Mark Bear, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Research Updates, Treatment Targets June 11, 2013February 24, 2018autism, lovastatin

Available medication Lovastatin corrects excess protein synthesis in Fragile X mice At the opening dinner of the 2011 FRAXA Investigators Meeting in Southbridge, MA, Dr. Emily Osterweil was awarded the FRAXA Pioneer Award for work demonstrating that Lovastatin could treat Fragile X. Dr. Osterweil conducted her experiments in the MIT laboratory of Dr. Mark Bear; she has since established her own laboratory at the University of Edinburgh. The team discovered that lovastatin, a drug widely prescribed for high cholesterol, can correct excess hippocampal protein synthesis in the mouse model of FXS and can prevent epileptogenesis. The work is published in the prestigious neuroscience journal Neuron: Lovastatin Corrects Excess Protein Synthesis and Prevents Epileptogenesis in a Mouse Model of Fragile X Syndrome. One implication of the mGluR theory of Fragile X is that there are exaggerated consequences of activation of signaling pathways which link metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) to the cellular machinery of neurons. It

Small Rho GTPases, a Potential Therapeutic Target for Fragile X Syndrome

FRAXA Research Foundation 2006-2010 Grants, 2011 Grants, 2012 Grants, 2013 Grants, Completed Research Grant, Disease Mechanisms, MariVi Tejada-Simons, PhD, Treatment Targets, University of Houston January 30, 2013May 16, 2018lovastatin, Rac1

With $384,345 in grants from FRAXA Research Foundation, Dr. MariVi Tejada from the University of Houston focused on a particularly promising point of intervention in pathways of brain receptors, and tested several potential therapeutic compounds in an attempt to rescue function in the mouse model of fragile X.