Patients with late-onset Pompe disease (LOPD) should be followed regularly and start on enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) if they develop symptoms, according to an analysis of available guidelines. The study, “Comparison of recent pivotal recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of late-onset Pompe disease using…
enzyme replacement therapy
On a Friday the 13th some 20 years ago, 15-month-old Megan Crowley was diagnosed with Pompe disease. A few weeks later, so was her newborn brother, Patrick. Even the doctor who diagnosed the two children didn’t know much about the disease. Before that March day in 1998, he had…
A research team in Korea has developed a new method using rice to produce lab-made human acid alpha-glucosidase (GAA) for the treatment of Pompe disease. Their findings were published in the study, “N-glycan Remodeling Using Mannosidase Inhibitors to Increase High-mannose Glycans on Acid α-Glucosidase in Transgenic Rice…
Frequent inspiratory muscle training — a set of breathing exercises to strengthen the respiratory muscles making it easier to breathe — enhanced the breathing capacity of late-onset Pompe disease patients with insufficient respiratory function, a small pilot study has found. The study, “Safety and efficacy of short- and long-term…
Long-term interruption of enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) can lead to negative outcomes for late-onset Pompe disease patients, affecting their lung and exercise capacity as well as quality of life, a Swiss retrospective study shows. However, for most patients, resuming ERT can help restore the key clinical parameters that deteriorated during the pause…
Low-dose treatment with methotrexate can reduce the immune reaction that often accompanies enzyme replacement therapies in infants with Pompe disease, researchers report. Their study, “An immune tolerance approach using transient low-dose methotrexate in the ERT-naïve setting of patients treated with a therapeutic protein: experience in infantile-onset Pompe…
Clenbuterol as an add-on therapy appears to be safe and significantly improves the effectiveness of enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) in patients with late-onset Pompe disease, according to the results from a Phase 1/2 trial. The study, “Correction of Biochemical Abnormalities and Improved Muscle Function in a Phase…
Treatment with enzyme replacement therapy can help children with classic infantile Pompe disease reach adulthood. However, it fails to prevent the long-term effects of the disease in the brain and consequent  development of intellectual disabilities, a study shows. The study titled “Classic infantile Pompe patients…