Bidichandani and colleagues have reported significantly increased levels of a frataxin antisense transcript 1 (FAST1) in FRDA fibroblast cells, associated with depletion of CTCF binding at the 5' UTR region of the FXN gene (Figure 2), suggesting involvement of these factors in the heterochromatin and FXN gene silencing processes of FRDA disease (De Biase et al., 2009). Here, FXN is linked to Friedreich ataxia.