sporadic ALS

Scientists at Broken String Biosciences and the Francis Crick Institute are teaming up to study how genomic instability, or an increased tendency to DNA mutations, contributes to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The findings may shed light on the mechanisms leading to sporadic cases of ALS, the term…

Increased accumulation of p62, a protein involved in a cellular recycling process called autophagy, in the spinal cord is associated with worse survival outcomes in people with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a study revealed. Autophagy is the cellular process responsible for breaking down proteins and other complex molecules…

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) — an oral medication approved for multiple sclerosis — and H-151, an experimental treatment, can suppress inflammatory and abnormal immune pathways thought to be involved in sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). These are the findings of a study using immune cells from sporadic ALS patients…

A sizable portion of people with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) carry a genetic mutation known to cause other neurological disorders, a new study shows. “This suggests shared risk factors among these diseases, shared mechanisms that cause nerves to die – and perhaps shared therapeutic strategies in the future,”…

The cerebrospinal fluid of people with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (sALS), but not of those with familial forms of the disease, promoted ALS-specific molecular, cellular, and motor abnormalities in healthy mice, a study showed. Apolipoprotein B-100 (apoB100), a protein involved in cholesterol transport, was identified as the main…

Altered forms of the SOD1 protein are found in the spinal cord nerve cells of people with all types of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), not just those with mutations in the gene providing instructions for making the protein, a study reported. “The results suggest this abnormal protein contributes to cell…

Note: Frontiers in Genetics, the publisher of the study discussed in this ALS News Today news story, received a request from the article’s authors to retract it in light of new information indicating that the variants reported in the study might not be meaningful; instead, they may actually result from…

A Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating AL-S Pharma AG’s experimental therapy AP-101 in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has enrolled its first patient. The study (NCT05039099) already is recruiting up to 63 adults with sporadic and SOD1-related familial ALS at one of its Canadian sites.

Rare mutations in the TP73 gene, which is involved in the regulation of a cell’s life cycle, may put a person at greater risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), according to a genetic analysis of nearly 2,900 sporadic ALS patients. Such mutations were found to affect the maturation and survival of…

AcuraStem has been awarded a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to advance AS-202, a potentially disease-modifying therapy for sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), according to a press release. The candidate therapy is designed to increase the number of lysosomes — cell compartments…