A new study ties mutations in two genes to the death of nerve cells in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other related neurodegenerative diseases.
New research supports the idea that a malfunction of the TDP-43 protein plays a decisive role in the development of ALS and FTD.
Researchers discover an abnormal protein that accumulates in the brains of patients affected with ALS and frontotemporal dementia. The findings have uncovered a potentially new therapeutic target and biomarker that would allow clinicians to confirm diagnosis of the diseases.
While evidence suggests pathological proteins linked to the onset and progression of neurodegenerative disorders are capable of spreading from cell-to-cell within the brains of affected individuals, new research shows no evidence to support concerns that these abnormal disease proteins are “infectious” or transmitted from animals to humans or from one person to another.
A new finding turns one of the basics of neurobiology on its head, demonstrating that it is possible to turn one type of already differentiated neuron into another within the brain.
Researchers have identified a new genetic mutation for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), opening the door to future targeted therapies.
Efforts to treat disorders like Lou Gehrig’s disease, Paget’s disease, inclusion body myopathy and dementia will receive a considerable boost from a new research model created by UC Irvine scientists.
Professional football players in this study were three times more likely to die as a result of diseases that damage brain cells compared to the general population. A player’s risk of death from Alzheimer’s disease or ALS was almost four times higher than the general population.
By increasing the signaling activity of a protein called muscle skeletal receptor tyrosine-protein kinase (MuSK), researchers were able to keep nerve cells attached to muscle longer into the progression of the disease in a mouse model of ALS.
Scientists knew that mutations in the FUS gene (Fused in Sarcoma) cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement. The researchers were successful in identifying mutations in this gene that cause Essential Tremor, and proved that the disease mechanisms for ET and ALS FUS mutations are different.
Researchers from the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute at the University of Barcelona have coordinated research into how the IDPN nitrile causes neurological syndromes similar to those of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a severe neuromuscular degenerative disease.
Findings could have broad therapeutic potential for many neurodegenerative diseases. Degeneration of the axon and synapse, the slender projection through...
