Rett Syndrome – Chapter 14: Treatments for Rett Syndrome (ebook)

Although we have gained many insights into the disorder and the functions of associated genes in the half century since the first clinical diagnosis of RTT, we have not, as yet, been able to find therapeutic agents that have the capacity to cure or even substantially ameliorate the disease in humans. Recent trials using mouse models, however, show that it is possible to reverse aspects of the RTT phenotype, as well as therapies aimed at downstream targets of MeCP2, which has greatly increased optimism that human therapeutic trials now being implemented raise the prospect that RTT could be a curable childhood neurological disorder.

About the book

Among the vast body of literature that has grown around Rett syndrome, this volume is the first to be aimed at both clinicians and researchers. It presents a comprehensive overview of the disorder and examines the areas where gaps in knowledge are most significant. Rett Syndrome is intended to be a guide for both initial examination and in-depth study of the disorder. It is a practical text for the physician approaching the disorder for the first time and a valuable reference resource for the specialist or researcher.

Wendy A Gold, SakkuBai Naidu and John Christodoulou (Authors) Walter E Kaufmann (Editor)

Professor Walter E Kaufmann is Director of the Center for Translational Research and Curry Chair in Genetic Therapeutics at the Greenwood Genetic Center, South Carolina, USA. He is a clinician and researcher whose career has focused on characterizing the neurobehavioral phenotypes and underlying mechanisms of genetic disorders associated with intellectual disability and autism.

Alan Percy

Alan Percy is a Professor in Child Neurology and currently the Interim Director of Clinical Neuroscience at the Civitan International Research Center, University of Alabama School of Medicine, Birmingham , USA. He trained in paediatrics at Stanford University Hospital and specialised in paediatric neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Angus Clarke

Professor Angus Clarke is Honorary Consultant in Clinical Genetics at the Institute of Medical Genetics, University Hospital of Wales, UK. He established the Cardiff University MSc course in Genetic Counselling in 2000 and has been Course Director since then. His is also medical advisor to Rett UK.

Helen Leonard and SakkuBai Naidu

Professor Helen Leonard is Senior Research Fellow and Principal Research Fellow at the Telethon Kids Institute, Perth, Western Australia. In 1992 she established the internationally unique, population-based Australian Rett Syndrome Database and has maintained the register since that time. In 2002 she set up the International Rett Syndrome Foundation Phenotype Database, InterRett.

Dr SakkuBai Naidu works as a Pediatric Neurologist at Kennedy Krieger Institute where she also directs Rett syndrome research at the Department of Neurogenetics. Dr Naidu is also a Professor in the Departments of Neurology and Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her special interest is in developmental and neurogenetic disorders affecting children and adults.

Full book contents
AUTHORS’ APPOINTMENTS
FOREWORD
PREFACE
A TRIBUTE TO BENGT HAGBERG, ALAN PERCY
PROLOGUE: PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE BENGT HAGBERG, ALISON KERR AND KATHY HUNTER
1. THE DIAGNOSIS OF RETT SYNDROME, WALTER E KAUFMANN AND JEFFREY L NEUL
2. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF RETT SYNDROME: BUILDING ON RECENT EXPERIENCE, ALAN PERCY AND DANIEL GLAZE
3. THE CLINICAL GENETICS OF RETT SYNDROME, ANGUS CLARKE, HAYLEY ARCHER AND JOHN CHRISTODOULOU
4. GENETIC SOURCES OF VARIATION IN RETT SYNDROME, JEFFREY L NEUL, HELEN LEONARD, ALESSANDRA RENIERI, SONIA BROWER AND FRANCESCA MARI
5. COGNITION, BEHAVIOUR AND COMMUNICATION, LEOPOLD MG CURFS, PETER MARSCHIK, GILLIAN S TOWNEND, WALTER E KAUFMANN, ROSA ANGELA FABIO, JEFF SIGAFOOS
6. MOTOR ABNORMALITIES IN RETT SYNDROME, JENNY DOWNS AND TERESA TEMUDO
7. ORTHOPAEDIC ISSUES IN RETT SYNDROME, JENNY DOWNS, DAVID P ROYE, GORDON BAIKIE AND BRENDAN WILLIAMS
8. SLEEP ISSUES IN RETT SYNDROME, CAROLYN ELLAWAY, DANIEL GLAZE, SAROJINI BUDDEN AND YOSHIKO NOMURA
9. EPILEPSY IN RETT SYNDROME, BRURIA BEN-ZEEV, ANDREEA NISSENKORN, MARIA PINTAUDI AND DANIEL GLAZE
10. BREATHING ABNORMALITIES IN RETT SYNDROME, NINO RAMIREZ, CHRISTOPHER S WARD AND JEFFREY L NEUL
11. GROWTH, FEEDING AND NUTRITION, AND BONE HEALTH IN RETT SYNDROME,
KATHLEEN MOTIL
12. MOLECULAR COMPLEXITIES OF MECP2 FUNCTION AS A MASTER EPIGENETIC REGULATOR DEFICIENT IN RETT SYNDROME, JANINE M LASALLE AND MICHAEL L GONZALES
13. THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF RETT SYNDROME, WALTER E KAUFMANN, JAMES H EUBANKS, MICHAEL V JOHNSTON AND MARY E BLUE
14. TREATMENTS FOR RETT SYNDROME: PROSPECTS FOR TARGETED THERAPIES,
SAKKUBAI NAIDU, WENDY GOLD AND JOHN CHRISTODOULOU
15. REHABILITATION IN RETT SYNDROME, SAROJINI BUDDEN
16. PERSPECTIVES, WALTER E KAUFMANN
INDEX