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ORPHA:139547

Distal spinal muscular atrophy type 3

high confidenceDisorder

Also known as: Autosomal recessive distal spinal muscular atrophy type 3 · Distal hereditary motor neuropathy type 3 and type 4 · dHMN3 and dHMN4 · dSMA3

Publications

10

19.9th percentile

Trials

0

Interventional, condition-specific

Researchers

88

Distinct authors in sample

Gene link

—

Readiness

2/6

Stages with a signal

Clinical definition (Orphanet)

Distal spinal muscular atrophy type 3 is a rare neuromuscular disease characterized by muscular weakness and atrophy predominantly affecting distal parts of limbs, later involvement of proximal and trunk muscles with marked hyperlordosis and late diaphragmatic dysfunction.

How rare: <1 / 1 000 000 — fewer than one in a million. In a city the size of Kolkata, that might mean on the order of fifteen people.

Orphanet entry

Cross-references

Joined from Mondo / Orphanet. MeSH labels may enter searches; UMLS / OMIM / NCIT are stored for reference.

Additional Mondo synonyms (4)

autosomal recessive distal spinal muscular atrophy type 3 · distal hereditary motor neuropathy type 3 and type 4 · distal spinal muscular atrophy type 3 · spinal muscular atrophy, chronic distal, autosomal recessive

Research stages

Trial readiness signals

Where this condition sits on an open-data research pipeline — not how close a treatment is, and not medical advice. Empty stages often mean “not in these databases under this Mondo ID,” not “impossible.”

2/6 stages with a signal

No specific-condition interventional trial, but broader-category trials exist — discuss eligibility with a clinician.

  1. Gene identifiedNot found

    No GenCC disease–gene assertion in this build

  2. LiteraturePresent

    10 matched papers (5 in last 10 years) Source

  3. Phenotype characterisedNot checked

    Not yet enriched from Monarch / HPO

  4. Animal modelNot checked

    Not yet enriched from Monarch / Alliance

  5. Orphan designationNot checked

    FDA/EMA orphan-drug designation not enriched yet

  6. Interventional trialPartial

    None under the specific name; 166 for broader category spinal muscular atrophy

Biology

Genes and phenotypes

Gene–disease validity from GenCC, plus phenotypes and animal models joined from Monarch Initiative via Mondo ID — not a clinical diagnosis aid.

Do we know what causes it?

Not yet — the cause hasn't been pinned down in GenCC.

No strong gene–disease assertion joined for this Orphanet entity.

Phenotypes (Monarch / HPO)

Not enriched in this build — Monarch phenotype joins were not run for this record.

Animal models (Monarch / Alliance)

Not enriched in this build.

Literature

Is anyone studying this?

10

10 papers have ever been indexed under this name. For scale, breast cancer has over 700,000. Median papers in the last 10 years for a rare disease in this dataset (publications denominator n=5449) is 41.

10 papers since the earliest indexed year in this search — median last-10-year count for a rare disease in this dataset is 41 (publications denominator n=5449).

5 in the last 10 years · high confidence · 19.9th percentile (publications denominator)

Phrase hits: 10 · MeSH hits: 0

Open Europe PMC search

Who's working on it?

88

Distinct author names in 10 sampled papers — named people below.

Who's working on it?

No interventional trial matched this name; these authors publish on it in the sampled literature — a practical starting point for contact.

  1. 01
    Gitlin JD2 papers · 2015

    Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, USA.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  2. 02
    Petris MJ2 papers · 2015

    Department of Biochemistry, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  3. 03
    Weisman GA2 papers · 2015

    Department of Biochemistry, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  4. 04
    Aguzzi A1 paper · 2011
    Papers in Europe PMC
  5. 05
    Bae S1 paper · 2020

    Department of Chemistry, Hanyang University, Seoul, 04763, South Korea. sangsubae@hanyang.ac.kr.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  6. 06
    Baek D1 paper · 2020

    Department of Neurosurgery, Spine & Spinal Cord Institute, College of Medicine, Yonsei University, Seoul, 03722, South Korea.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  7. 07
    Barr DB1 paper · 2017

    Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, United States.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  8. 08
    Bassell GJ1 paper · 2020

    Laboratory of Translational Cell Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  9. 09
    Binukumar BK1 paper · 2020

    CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Mathura Road, Delhi 110 025, India.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  10. 10
    Blackburn JB1 paper · 2017

    Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, United States.

    Papers in Europe PMC

Clinical research

Is a treatment being tested?

0

interventional trials for this specific condition

No interventional trial testing a treatment matched this specific condition name. 1 observational study did — shown below because natural-history and cohort work can be an important step toward a trial. 166 trials are registered for spinal muscular atrophy, the broader category — shown separately because they may or may not enrol this specific subtype.

Data as of 27 July 2026

No matched interventional trials. This is true for 73% of diseases in the trials denominator (5114 of 7003). Here are the researchers publishing on it.

high confidence · 36.5th percentile (trials denominator)

Recruiting interventional trials

From the matched ClinicalTrials.gov set

No interventional trial testing a treatment was found for this specific condition name on ClinicalTrials.gov.

166 interventional trials matched spinal muscular atrophy, the broader category — listed below. Those studies are not counted in the condition-specific total.

Broader category: spinal muscular atrophy

166

Interventional trials for the parent category, exclusive of NCT IDs already counted above. Eligibility for this subtype is not guaranteed.

Worth raising with a clinician. How we count trials.

Recruiting under the broader category

Observational and natural-history studies

1 observational study matches this condition. These do not test a treatment and are not counted in the interventional-trial headline, but they are genuine research: natural-history work often defines the endpoints needed for a future rare-disease trial, and families may be able to enroll.

None of the matched observational studies is currently listed as recruiting.

Open the complete matched search on ClinicalTrials.gov

Where to find support

We do not yet link condition-specific patient organisations. These umbrella groups support undiagnosed and ultra-rare families:

India — NPRD

Last verified 2026-07-26

Likely covered — the policy lists Spinal muscular atrophy as a category (Group 3), and this condition is a form of it. Confirm eligibility with a Centre of Excellence.

Group 3 — high-cost / lifelong therapy with careful selection

Up to ₹50 lakh per patient

Financial support at notified Centres of Excellence is the figure commonly cited in recent MoHFW/PIB statements. Many Group 3 patients also use the MoHFW voluntary-contribution / crowdfunding portal.

Eligibility and patient selection rules change. Verify with a CoE; the crowdfunding portal is a separate mechanism from CoE funding. Verify

Centres of Excellence (15)
  • All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) — New Delhi, Delhi
  • Maulana Azad Medical College — New Delhi, Delhi
  • Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences — Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
  • Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) — Chandigarh, Chandigarh
  • Centre for DNA Fingerprinting & Diagnostics with Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences — Hyderabad, Telangana
  • King Edward Memorial Hospital — Mumbai, Maharashtra
  • Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research (IPGMER) — Kolkata, West Bengal
  • Centre for Human Genetics with Indira Gandhi Hospital — Bengaluru, Karnataka
  • Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children (ICH & HC) — Chennai, Tamil Nadu
  • All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) — Jodhpur, Rajasthan
  • Sree Avittam Thirunal Hospital (SAT), Government Medical College — Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
  • All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) — Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
  • Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) — Imphal, Manipur
  • All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) — Patna, Bihar
  • Assam Medical College & Hospital — Dibrugarh, Assam

Voluntary contributions / crowdfunding (separate from CoE funding): https://rarediseases.mohfw.gov.in/

Hand-curated for this project. ORPHAcode mappings are best-effort and may be incomplete or imprecise for umbrella categories. Parent (Mondo) matches mean the policy lists a broader category — confirm eligibility with a Centre of Excellence. Financial entitlements summarised from public policy statements and may change. This is not official government guidance.

How we counted this

Europe PMC query (preferred label + any corrected label + Orphanet and Mondo exact synonyms, stoplisted; unioned with resolved MeSH labels when available). UMLS / OMIM / NCIT cross-references are stored on the overview but are not added to the query string.

"Distal spinal muscular atrophy type 3" OR "Autosomal recessive distal spinal muscular atrophy type 3" OR "Distal hereditary motor neuropathy type 3 and type 4" OR "dHMN3 and dHMN4" OR "dSMA3" OR "spinal muscular atrophy, chronic distal, autosomal recessive"

Run this search on Europe PMC

MeSH descriptor terms unioned into the query: Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Distal, Autosomal Recessive, 3

ClinicalTrials.gov query (quoted phrases + MeSH via query.cond, plus recall-expansion terms when used):

"Distal spinal muscular atrophy type 3" OR "Autosomal recessive distal spinal muscular atrophy type 3" OR "Distal hereditary motor neuropathy type 3 and type 4" OR "dHMN3 and dHMN4" OR "dSMA3" OR "spinal muscular atrophy, chronic distal, autosomal recessive" OR "Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Distal, Autosomal Recessive, 3" OR "neuronopathy, distal hereditary motor, autosomal recessive" OR "distal hereditary motor neuropathy"

Recall-expansion terms: neuronopathy, distal hereditary motor, autosomal recessive, distal hereditary motor neuropathy

Study-type breakdown: 0 interventional · 1 observational · 0 expanded access. Only interventional studies enter the trial headline.

Parent-category trials query:

"spinal muscular atrophy"

Query health: ok — strategies attempted: phrase, mesh, recall-expansion; with hits: phrase, recall-expansion

Run this search on ClinicalTrials.gov

Confidence reasoning

  • Preferred label is multi-word and distinctive
  • No synonyms dropped by stoplist
  • No label/synonym collisions with other diseases in this corpus

Ingested 2026-07-27T07:40:14.059Z