Researchers at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine have discovered a common cause of all forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS and Lou Gehrig’s disease). ALS is a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a progressive loss of muscle strength leading to paralysis rendering the patient unable to move, speak, swallow and breathe.
These Feinberg scientists have concluded that the basis of ALS is a broken down protein recycling system in the neurons of the spinal cord and the brain, which compromises optimal functioning of these neurons, rendering them incapable of repair and maintenance. This breakdown of proteins has been found to be necessary in all three forms of ALS: hereditary (“familial”), not hereditary (“sporadic”), and ALS that targets the brain (“ALS/dementia”).
ALS affects approximately 350,000 adults and children worldwide, with 50 percent of cases fatal within three years of its onset. While scientists have been unable to develop effective therapies thus far, the discovery of a common cause has allowed for testing of drugs that would regulate this protein-recycling pathway, repairing it so that it returns to its normal state.
It has been hypothesized that the breakdown in protein recycling may also have a wider role in other neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease as well as Parkinson’s disease.
Source: http://neurosciencenews.com/als-research-discovery-lou-gehrigs-disease-common-cause-found/
