Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

Researchers at several institutions in the United States and Sweden have found that a mutation in the gene for superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), known to cause ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) in 1 percent to 3 percent of human cases, also can cause an ALS-like disease in dogs.

These dogs are the first spontaneously occurring animal model of ALS discovered, the researchers say in their paper, published online Feb. 2 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said yes to a small safety trial of nervous-system stem cells in people with recently sustained injuries to the middle (thoracic) part of the spinal cord, the biopharmaceutical company Geron Corporation of Menlo Park, Calif., announced Jan. 23, 2009.

Speeding the course of clinical trials for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is one of the main goals of MDA’s new clinical trial network – and the work already has begun.

In DMD ...

Investigators at five elite U.S. centers are working together to support trials and studies and collaborate on DMD-related projects. The centers are located at:

A study in the May 29 issue of Neurology is the third to find that a viral protein known as reverse transcriptase is more frequently found in the blood of people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) than in those who don't have the disease.

Reverse transcriptase is an enzyme that retroviruses (a viral family that includes HIV) use to replicate themselves.