Madurai: Clinical trial finds benefits in beta glucan food supplements for DMD patients

Madurai: The use of N-163 beta glucan food supplements has shown encouraging benefits, including decreasing inflammation and fibrosis markers in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, revealed the results of a recent clinical trial registered in the Clinical Trials Registry India . The study was carried out by a team of Indian and Japanese scientists led by Madurai based paediatric neurologist Dr K Raghavan.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a rare genetic neuromuscular disorder that mainly affects boys, mostly by three years age, causing progressive muscle weakness and leading to death by the age of 30. There is no known cure for the disease. “After getting permission from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), we undertook this study to find a way to delay the progression of the disease. The study was conducted in October 2021 for 45 days in which 27 patients with DMD took part. Neu REFIX Glucan, a beta glucan food supplement derived from the N-163 strain of black yeast Aureobasidium pullulans, was used for the study,” said Dr Raghavan. He said there was a decrease in inflammation and fibrosis, increase in dystrophin and improvement in muscle strength in DMD subjects over 45 days.

“Though the study was conducted only for a short duration, the muscle strength and walking trend were encouraging. Hence, we are currently undertaking a six month study to further validate the outcome. An improvement in plasma dystrophin, which is secreted by the blood vessels, is another path breaking outcome in our study on which we are now collaborating with Japanese scientists to explore further,” said Dr Raghavan. The pilot clinical study has since been published in a preprint journal in March.

The findings were reported at an international webinar held on Sunday to commemorate World Duchenne Awareness Day, which falls on September 7. Scientists, neurologists, parents of patients with DMD, patient support group members and physiotherapists from several countries, including Japan, the UAE and Vietnam, took part. Dr Yoshitsugu Aoki from National Centre for Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo, said the recent progress in exon skipping therapy to treat DMD has given a big hope to DMD patients. Patients from different countries also shared their experiences.