Methods of diagnosis of spinal muscular atrophy and treatments thereof

Abstract

Methods for treating SMA in a subject comprise administering to the subject a recombinant genetic vector comprising at least one copy of a Stathmin inhibitor. The inhibitor can be a Stathmin expression inhibitor. The inhibitor can be or can encode an antisense or RNAi nucleic acid, such as a siRNA or a shRNA. The copy can be a copy of a host-expressible Stathmin inhibitor or a copy of a host-expressible Stathmin expression inhibitor. Screening methods can comprise the following steps: providing a Stathmin binding agent and a cellular sample from a human subject at least suspected of either having SMA or having a low SMN protein-based condition; contacting the Stathmin binding agent with the cellular sample under conditions in which the agent can specifically bind to Stathmin present in the sample to form complexes, and removing non-specifically bound agent therefrom to leave remaining complexes, and detecting remaining complexes and comparing the level of complexes detected or of the corresponding Stathmin concentration that is present in the sample, to a control level determined from a healthy cellular sample. The detection of an elevated level of complexes or of Stathmin concentration provides a positive screening result.

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