Milked enzyme thwarts muscle disorder
By John Travis
From Philadelphia, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics
A controversy over rabbit’s milk and hamster ovaries provides background drama to a successful attempt to use a human enzyme to treat the rare genetic disorder Pompe’s disease.
This fatal condition weakens the body’s muscles, particularly the heart and the muscles that power breathing. While people with milder forms of the condition live into their teens and adulthood, babies born with the severest form of Pompe’s disease rarely survive their first year.