Fly model points to possible new target pathway for treatment of Friedreich’s ataxia

Pablo Calap-Quintana, Sirena Soriano, José Vicente Llorens, Ismael Al-Ramahi, Juan Botas, María Dolores Moltó, María José Martínez-Sebastián. TORC1 Inhibition by Rapamycin Promotes Antioxidant Defences in a Drosophila Model of Friedreich’s Ataxia. PLOS Published: July 9, 2015 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0132376

From the abstract: "Friedreich’s ataxia (FRDA) ... is a multisystemic disease caused by a significant decrease in the frataxin level. ... we performed a candidate genetic screen in a Drosophila RNAi-based model of FRDA. We found that genetic reduction in TOR Complex 1 (TORC1) signalling improves the impaired motor performance phenotype of FRDA model flies. ... These results point to the TORC1 pathway as a new potential therapeutic target for FRDA and as a guide to finding new promising molecules for disease treatment."