Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) belongs to a group of genetic conditions known as the Repeat Expansion Diseases. These diseases all
arise from a poorly understood process that results in an expansion or increase in the size of a tandem repeat tract. In the case of
FRDA the repeat unit is GAA/TTC and the repeat tract is located
in the first intron of the frataxin (FXN) gene, a gene situated at
9q21.1. Expansion results in epigenetic modifications that downregulate the transcription of affected alleles [1–5]. The result of this
downregulation is a progressive neurodegeneration that leads to
gait and balance difficulties that often results in patients becoming
wheelchair-bound at an early age. FRDA has a high early mortality
resulting from an associated hypertrophic cardiomyopathy