Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) is the most common autosomal recessive ataxia worldwide. This review highlights the main clinical features, pathophysiological mechanisms, and therapeutic approaches for FRDA patients. The disease is characterized by a combination of neurological involvement (ataxia and neuropathy), cardiomyopathy, skeletal abnormalities, and glucose metabolism disturbances. FRDA is caused by expanded guanine-adenine-adenine (GAA) triplet repeats in the first intron of the frataxin gene (FXN), resulting in reduction of messenger RNA and protein levels of frataxin in different tissues.
Read More: Milestones in Friedreich ataxia: more than a century and still learning
