Grant: Project Grant

The ultimate goal of this research proposal is to develop a novel therapeutical approach to treat patients suffering from muscular dystrophy (MD). Our recent observations suggest that a treatment, which increases the biosynthesis of galectin-3 ligands, improves maximum force strength of the muscle of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) in vivo and myogenesis of muscle cells derived from normal mice in vitro. Based on this novel observation, the overall goal of this proposal is to develop a novel approach for MD therapy using a conventional chemical compound that can increase the biosynthesis of galectin-3 ligands. To this end, the aim of this proposal is to investigate the underlying molecular mechanism by which galectin-3 improves muscle regeneration and mitigate the progression of MD.