Therapeutic efforts in Duchenne muscular dystrophy; the need for a common language between basic scientists and clinicians

Major advances in molecular genetics of Duchenne dystrophy over the past decade have generated a flurry of attempts at potential cell and gene therapy, mainly in the dystrophin-deficient mdx mouse. This has been accompanied by a fanfare of publicity, in both scientific and lay press, producing waves of hope followed by troughs of disappointment and frustration in both patients and their families and in the scientific community. It has also spawned an additional problem in the use of inappropriate terminology to describe clinical or pathological changes in experimental animal studies, which have been equated with the human disease. It seemed timely to address and hopefully redress the problem, and suggest some solutions, aimed at finding a common language for basic and clinical scientists in their therapeutic efforts in relation to Duchenne dystrophy. Core problems include equating the mdx mouse, with its very mild clinical phenotype, and Duchenne dystrophy; use of inappropriate and often emotive terminology to describe pathological changes, such as 'rescue', 'reversal', 'prevention', 'phenotype', instead of clear descriptive language; and use of the term therapy in place of experiment in both laboratory and clinical experiments targeting single muscles. A major missing link in these multidisciplinary efforts is the absence of mouse clinicians, who can define at a clinical level the motor, respiratory and cardiac deficits in the dystrophic animal, and bridge the huge gap between the mouse scientists doing experimental studies in the laboratory and the clinicians and veterinarians caring for humans and dogs with these disorders. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.