Scientists Reverse Muscular Dystrop...(a person's entire body instead of just s...),Health

"This only addresses the pathology in the muscle and the disease is more complex," Cwik said.

"There are a lot of potential issues especially regarding the delivery of the oligonucleotide," Rimer added. "They only test the effects of the oligonucleotide in one muscle, so if you want to apply this to humans you would have to find a way to deliver this to multiple muscles."

Also, said Cwik, it isn't clear how or even if this strategy would affect other proteins that also play a role in the disease.

The strategy does have the potential to affect the multiple systems targeted by muscular dystrophy, Cwik said. "It's working very early, very upstream so it has the potential to impact many aspects of the disease," she said. "But we haven't looked at this at all in humans yet."

More information

For more on the illness, head to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

SOURCES: Charles Thornton, M.D., professor, neurology, University of Rochester Medical Center and co-director, University of Rochester Medical Center's Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Cooperative Research Center; Mendell Rimer, Ph.D., assistant professor, neuroscience and experimental therapeutics, Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, College Station; Valerie Cwik, M.D., senior vice president-research, and medical director, Muscular Dystrophy Association; July 16, 2009, Science