Irish research breakthrough on muscular dystrophy

IRISH research could lead to a range of treatments for a muscle-wasting disease affecting dozens of boys in this country alone.

Around one in every 3,500 boys is born with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a genetic, muscle-wasting disease that is usually unrecognisable until the age of three or four and can lead to wheelchair confinement by age 12.

It arises from a mutation of the gene for the dystrophin protein found in muscles and currently affects around 80 Irish males.