It’s a disease that makes our muscles tire more quickly
, explains Edouard, the eldest of the Fiola-Faucher family.
Over time, the muscles weaken, tear at the slightest contraction and inflammation of the tissues sets in, limiting their repair. This is where the glucocorticoids, which Édouard takes, come in to reduce this inflammation. But the remedy comes with significant side effects: osteoporosis, growth retardation, increased anxiety.
At 11, Edouard needs his wheelchair as soon as he leaves home. He must also, with regret, limit his fighting games with his little brother: his bones have become more fragile. In Jérémie, the disease has progressed less, but the parents know that the mobility of the two boys will be more and more limited. Duchenne’s disease causes progressive and irreversible muscle degeneration.
Muscular dystrophy: a new treatment that raises hope
—
The CHU Sainte-Justine follows around sixty boys with Duchenne dystrophy.
Symptoms usually start around the age of two or three with weakness affecting the legs, especially the thighs.
, explains Cam-Tu Emilie Nguyen, specialist in neuromuscular diseases. The entourage will first notice that the toddler has difficulty getting up from the ground, then climbing the stairs.
« Boys who are affected find themselves in wheelchairs around the age of 10 to 12 years. »
Nicolas Dumont (left) and his team at the CHU Ste-Justine Research Center.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Anne-Louise Despatie
—
If the resolvin treatment developed by the team of Professor Nicolas Dumont at the CHU Sainte-Justine is not the long-awaited curative treatment, it nevertheless has the great quality of slowing the progression of the disease and preserving the condition. muscles of young patients.
We hope that with our new treatment, we will reduce inflammation and be able to improve muscle function and the quality of life of patients, explains the researcher. Also, when new curative treatments arrive, having healthier muscle will improve the effectiveness of these curative treatments.
Glucocorticoids decrease inflammation, but harm muscle, while resolvins decrease inflammation and stimulate muscle healing.
Photo: Courtesy: CHU Sainte-Justine
—
The new molecule has yet to prove itself in clinical trials, but the first trials have shown that it is more effective than the glucocorticoids used since the 1970s, without the side effects associated with the latter.
In addition, it stimulates the activity of muscle stem cells that are responsible for healing muscles, so researchers believe that resolvin may extend the life expectancy of patients, which is currently between 20 and 30 years.
The movements become more complicated, as the mobility of the two brothers declines.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Anne-Louise Despatie
—
Hope and the time that flies
For the past seven years, the Fiola-Faucher family has had to go through several bereavements, knowing that Edouard and Jérémie’s muscular capacities will constantly decrease.
Because the enemy is the passage of time. The parents, the big sister, just like the grandparents who are very present, try not to think too much about the future and take it one step at a time.
As soon as we learn the diagnosis, we understand that we will probably outlive our children. It’s hard. This is the hardest part
admits Sébastien Mackenzie-Faucher, the father of Édouard and Jérémie. This engineer, who is on the lookout for research and studies, remains realistic in the face of promising tests which must pass several stages and which necessarily extend over several years.
It is not certain, unfortunately, that his children will be able to benefit from the benefits of resolvin.
« We look at the age of our children and we say to ourselves that it might be too late. But at the same time, it gives hope to other parents who have children younger than ours. »
–
