Lou Gehrig's Disease News and Research

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Lou Gehrig's Disease or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a neurological disorder characterized by progressive degeneration of motor neuron cells in the spinal cord and brain, which ultimately results in paralysis and death. The disease takes its less-scientific name from Lou Gehrig, a baseball player with the New York Yankees in the late 1920s and 1930s, who was forced to retire in 1939 as a result of the loss of motor control caused by the disease.

In 1991, a team of researchers linked familial ALS to chromosome 21. Two years later, the SOD1 gene was identified as being associated with many cases of familial ALS. The enzyme coded for by SOD1 carries out a very important function in cells: it removes dangerous superoxide radicals by converting them into non-harmful substances. Defects in the action of this enzyme mean that the superoxide radicals attack cells from the inside, causing their death. Several different mutations in this enzyme all result in ALS, making the exact molecular cause of the disease difficult to ascertain.

Recent research has suggested that treatment with drugs called antioxidants may benefit ALS patients. However, since the molecular genetics of the disease are still unclear, a significant amount of research is still required to design other promising treatments for ALS.

Salmonella biofilm protein can cause autoimmune responses, arthritis in animals

Scientists from the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre at the University of Saskatchewan and Temple University have demonstrated that a Salmonella biofilm protein can cause autoimmune responses and arthritis in animals.

10 Jul 2020

Link between ALS and Alzheimer's disease can help advance the search for new therapies

On the surface, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Alzheimer's disease share two commonalities: Both are progressively debilitating neurodegenerative conditions--meaning symptoms get worse--and, at least for now, neither has an effective treatment, let alone a cure.

16 Jun 2020

UMSOM researchers identify how certain gene mutations cause ALS

Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have identified how certain gene mutations cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

10 Jun 2020

Study provides groundwork for restoring nerve-muscle connection in ALS

Patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, lose muscle control as nerve cells or neurons in the brain and spinal cord degenerate and can no longer send signals to muscles.

28 May 2020

Rat spinal cords control muscular behaviors in novel biohybrid robots

Biological robots, or biobots, draw inspiration from natural systems to mimic the motions of organisms, such as swimming or jumping.

28 Apr 2020

Scientists delay onset of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in mice

A team of researchers led by scientists at the University of Toronto has delayed the onset of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in mice.

20 Apr 2020

Blue light illuminates key ALS pathologies in zebrafish

A joint research group in Japan has succeeded in reproducing key ALS symptoms in a small tropical fish by remote controlling a disease-associated protein molecule using light illumination.

26 Feb 2020

Supplementing diet with amino acid delays signs of ALS in animal study

The addition of dietary L-serine, a naturally occurring amino acid necessary for formation of proteins and nerve cells, delayed signs of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in an animal study.

24 Feb 2020

Unexpected findings could lead to new therapeutic intervention for ALS

A therapeutic intervention for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, could be on the horizon thanks to unexpected findings by University of Arizona researchers.

11 Feb 2020

Collaborative research uncovers underlying rules that, when broken, contribute to ALS

Clumps of proteins inside cells are a common thread in many neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig's disease.

7 Feb 2020

AI Therapeutics reports considerable progress on LAM-001 and LAM-004 clinical trials

AI Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that has created an artificial intelligence-driven drug development platform for matching drugs to new indications.

7 Jan 2020

A new kind of testing for patients with Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that manifests through symptoms such as tremor, slow movements, limb rigidity and gait and balance problems.

26 Dec 2019

Magnetic nano-sized disks could restore function for Lou Gehrig’s disease patients

For decades the renowned English physicist Stephen Hawking lived with a motor neuron disease until his death last year.

5 Dec 2019

ALS patients with commonly inherited genetic variation may experience more severe symptoms

A discovery made several years ago in a lab researching asthma at Wake Forest School of Medicine may now have implications for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disease with no known cure and only two FDA-approved drugs to treat its progression and severity.

16 Oct 2019

Northwestern scientists receive $3.1 million grant to investigate drug therapies for ALS

Two Northwestern University scientists have received a $3.1 million grant from the National Institute on Aging to collaborate and investigate drug therapies for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

18 Aug 2019

Novel robotic neck brace could improve quality of life for ALS patients

A novel neck brace, which supports the neck during its natural motion, was designed by Columbia engineers.

12 Aug 2019

Prion disease in mice treated successfully with antisense oligonucleotides

Prion proteins are known to cause scrapie – a neurodegenerative condition. It is capable of debilitating damage to the nervous system. Researchers have successfully devised a treatment for this condition which prolonged the lives of the lab mice infected with the prions.

1 Aug 2019