Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis News and Research

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Decades-old drug used to treat malaria reduces toxic protein linked to ALS

A new study finds that a decades-old drug used to treat malaria lowers levels of a biomarker linked to the inherited form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS and Lou Gehrig's Disease.

12 Jun 2017

Insilico Medicine launches personalized drug discovery platform to develop new treatments for ALS

Today, Insilico Medicine, Inc., a company applying the latest advances in deep learning to biomarker development, drug discovery and aging research, launched ALS.AI, a personalized drug discovery and biomarker development platform utilizing the latest advances in deep learning.

1 Jun 2017

BGU researchers redesign portion of FDA-approved drug into new molecule to treat ALS

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researchers are developing a new therapy for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis using part of an existing FDA-approved drug that restores the central nervous system's (CNS) immune defenses and increases life expectancy.

25 May 2017

Finding a cure for ALS

ALS is a neurodegenerative disease in which motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. As ALS progresses, neurons are unable to send impulses to muscles, making voluntary muscle movement difficult, including standing, walking and sitting, as well as speaking and swallowing.

22 May 2017

New gene variant linked to Lou Gehrig's disease

For the first time, a variant in UBQLN4 gene has been associated with Lou Gehrig's disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) - a progressive disease resulting in the loss of nerve cells that control muscle movement, which eventually leads to paralysis and death.

15 May 2017

Stem cell treatment helps improve motor functions, nervous system conditions in mice with ALS

Researchers at the University of South Florida show in a new study that bone marrow stem cell transplants helped improve motor functions and nervous system conditions in mice with the disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) by repairing damage to the blood-spinal cord barrier.

15 May 2017

FDA approves new treatment for people with ALS

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Radicava (edaravone) to treat patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease.

5 May 2017

Antidepressant improves drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier, rat study shows

NIH rat study suggests amitriptyline temporarily inhibits the blood-brain barrier, allowing drugs to enter the brain.

27 Apr 2017

Improvements to animal testing protocols could yield more useful clinical results

The use of animals in biomedical research has long been the focus of campaigns by animal rights activists. Two leading scientists writing in the European Journal of Internal Medicine give their expert view of the importance of animal testing to medical progress and present ways it could be further improved to yield more useful clinical results.

27 Apr 2017

Study underscores need for genetic screening to improve safety of experimental stem cell treatments

Regenerative medicine using human pluripotent stem cells to grow transplantable tissue outside the body carries the promise to treat a range of intractable disorders, such as diabetes and Parkinson's disease.

26 Apr 2017

Latest advances in antibody delivery mediated by rAAV for treatment of chronic and infectious diseases

Monoclonal antibody-based therapies have revolutionized treatments of cancer and autoimmune diseases because of their specificity and limited toxicity.

21 Apr 2017

SLU researchers make advances in understanding plaque-causing protein in neurological disorders

In a recent paper published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry Yuna Ayala, Ph.D., assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Saint Louis University, and her research team made advances in understanding how a protein causes damaging plaques to build up in neurodegenerative illnesses like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and a form of dementia called frontotemporal lobar degeneration.

19 Apr 2017

Microscopic probes simplify process of measuring electrical signals in small animals

Microscopic probes developed at Rice University have simplified the process of measuring electrical activity in individual cells of small living animals. The technique allows a single animal like a worm to be tested again and again and could revolutionize data-gathering for disease characterization and drug interactions.

17 Apr 2017

Targeted treatment slows progression of two degenerative brain diseases in mice

Scientists report a significant step toward combatting two degenerative brain diseases that chip away at an individual's ability to move, and think.

12 Apr 2017

Study offers new hope for early attack against Alzheimer's

Catch it early. Those are watchwords in the battle against a host of illnesses, from heart disease to cancer to Type 2 diabetes.

7 Apr 2017

Scientists discover potential role for 'jumping genes' in ALS

By inserting an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)-linked human gene called TDP-43 into fruit flies, researchers at Stony Brook University and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory discovered a potential role for 'transposons' in the disease.

24 Mar 2017

Researchers show shared genetic origin between ALS/MND and schizophrenia

Researchers have shown for the first time that Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Motor Neurone Disease (MND) and schizophrenia have a shared genetic origin, indicating that the causes of these diverse conditions are biologically linked.