TDP-43 protein

By taking advantage of a molecular interaction between the disease-related protein TDP-43 and another, innocuous protein, scientists have found a novel strategy that potentially may be used as a treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). “Importantly, this interaction could be key to unlocking a treatment not just for ALS…

Levels of the TDP-43 protein in spinal fluid show promise as biomarkers for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and may aid in diagnosing the neurological disease, according to a new review of several published studies. That review discovered that these protein levels are increased in…

A Phase 1/2 clinical trial is investigating the long-term safety and tolerability of BIIB105, Biogen‘s investigational treatment targeting the ataxin-2 protein, in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Called ALSpire (NCT04494256), the trial is currently recruiting adults with ALS at 12 sites in the U.S., Canada, and…

Pasithea Therapeutics has gained access to AU$1 million (about $694,000) to further its research into anti-integrin antibodies as potential treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The non-dilutive funds became available following the company’s acquisition of Alpha-5 Integrin, the preclinical biotech company that originally developed the experimental antibodies for…

Doing a muscle biopsy to look for abnormal clumps of the TDP-43 protein in the nerve fibers of muscle tissue may be useful for the early detection of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), according to a single-center study from Japan. “It is difficult to diagnose ALS in its early stages…

The loss of chemical modifications in the regulatory sequence of the TARDBP gene, called DNA methylation, seems to contribute to increased levels and clumping of the TDP-43 protein in the motor cortex of people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a study found. As methylation in this gene — which…

ProMIS Neurosciences is advancing the development of antibodies against toxic TDP-43 protein clumps for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the company announced. Through lab and animal tests, ProMIS said in a press release, the company plans to validate its current antibodies, which include extracellular antibodies delivered…

A Phase 1/2 clinical trial investigating ION541, Ionis Pharmaceuticals‘ third antisense treatment and its first for sporadic, rather than familial, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), has started dosing, the company announced. This ascending dose safety trial (NCT04494256) is recruiting up to 70 patients…

ProMIS Neurosciences announced its program for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is advancing, and scientists were able to generate a specific type of antibody against toxic TDP-43 protein clumps — a hallmark of this disease — that continuously damage nerve cells. These antibodies, called intrabodies because they…

Biochemist Dorothee Dormann, PhD, at the Ludwig Maximilians University, in Munich, was awarded the 2019 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize for Young Researchers for her groundbreaking work showing that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) share common underlying processes that drive disease development.