Alzheimer’s disease

Daily oral treatment with memantine did not slow disease progression nor did it reduce biomarker changes among people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) enrolled in a Phase 2b trial. Approved under the brand name Namenda to treat cognitive problems in people with Alzheimer’s disease, memantine has also…

To further support amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients through research and clinical studies, the Canadian province of British Columbia is giving CA$2 million (about $1.65 million) to the ALS Society of BC  to support a collaboration called Project Hope. In partnership with the University of British…

Denali Therapeutics and Sanofi announced a pause in clinical testing of their small molecule inhibitor DNL747 in favor of work on a possibly more effective compound, DNL788, for neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer’s, and multiple sclerosis. DNL747 was seen to be safe…

Rare variations in the TET2 gene seem to double a person’s risk of multiple neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and Alzheimer’s disease, according to a recent study. This gene codes for a protein involved in removing small chemical groups from DNA…

Target ALS and The ALS Association will jointly fund two projects focused on the development of new tests to evaluate TDP-43’s potential as a biomarker of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Nearly all ALS cases are characterized by the formation of toxic aggregates (clumps) containing the TDP-43 protein. These…

Like many couples, Joe and Linda Lacroix of Milton, Vermont, spent much of their lives working, raising families, maintaining their home, and planning for the future. Unlike most, however, there was always a dark cloud looming on their horizon — a gene for Huntington’s disease carried by Joe’s mother.

A new artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm can accurately predict the severity and progression of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s, by analyzing gene expression data from blood samples, researchers say. As the progression of these diseases is unique in every patient, this diagnostic algorithm has significant…

The brain’s waste clearance pathway, known as the glymphatic system, could enable more efficient delivery of therapeutics into the brain for the treatment of disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and brain cancer, according to a study. The study, “Transcranial optical…

A high genetic risk for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), assessed using so-called polygenic risk scores,  was linked in a study to poorer performances on verbal and numerical tests in otherwise healthy adults, but not to physical disabilities. The study, “Genetic risk for neurodegenerative disorders, and its overlap with cognitive…

Scientists have long linked abnormal versions of the protein TDP-43 to neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS, but they haven’t had a full understanding of how it causes nerve cell deterioration. A Japanese study in mice indicates that elevated levels of the normal version of TDP-43 can play a role in…