Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease of children and adults for which there is presently no therapy. Much of the current work in FRDA is aimed at finding new targets for drug therapies. Recent work at the University of Pennsylvania has discovered that serum ApoA-1 protein levels are lower in people with FRDA when compared with control levels. ApoA-1 is the main protein found in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and individuals with FRDA frequently have low HDL levels; the current study proposes to assess if administration of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors for 3 months alters ApoA-1 protein levels in FRDA. Although the significance of ApoA-1 levels among FRDA patients is currently unknown, this study is proposed as an exploratory study to further examine this protein. If ApoA-1 protein levels increase over the course of treatment, future studies may additionally focus on examining this as a potential therapeutic treatment.
