PRF-Funded Studies Provide Support for Drug Trial

PRF Reaches $1.4 of the $2 Million Needed to Fund Trial! In July, UCLA researchers Loren Fong and Stephen Young published findings from PRF-funded studies with Progeria mice, testing a potential drug treatment for children with Progeria. The FTI drug improved some signs of the disease in the mice! These and other recent studies have paved the way for PRF to begin a clinical trial with the children. Join our Clinical Trial Campaign and help make the trial happen!

July 20, 2006:  PRF-funded researchers continue to drive Progeria research to new levels of progress in our quest for the cure. Published in today’s online edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the findings support the start of human clinical trials with the cancer drug, farnesyltransferase inhibitor (FTI).

PRF is funding a clinical drug trial for Progeria, which began on May 7th. The trial is treating the children with a drug called FTI. This is a critical time to help PRF, as we are raising money to fund the trial.

Click here to find out how you can help.

Excerpts taken from the Journal of Clinical Investigation:

Using their new mouse model of progeria, UCLA Investigators found that an experimental drug, called a farnesyltransferase inhibitor, improved bone density, reduced bone fractures, delayed the onset of the disease, and helped with weight gain. The effects of the drug were more dramatic than in previous studies using other animal models. This new mouse model closely mirrors the genetic defect causing many cases of progeria in humans.

These findings will help researchers target drug therapies for children with progeria and lead to a better understanding of mechanisms of disease. The UCLA findings have made it feasible to consider human clinical trials.

UCLA researchers include Dr. Shao H. Yang, Loren G. Fong, Ph.D., and Dr. Stephen G. Young of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.