A team headed by Israeli researchers with colleagues in North America and Germany have suggested that increase macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) protein levels could treat – commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease (named for the Yankee baseball star who succumbed to it) – the devastating neurodegenerative condition of progressive loss of motor neurons, leading to muscle weakness, paralysis, and ultimately respiratory failure, and death. The collaborative research study just published in the prestigious under the title “Tageting low levels of MIT expression as a potential therapeutic strategy for ALS” presents a promising therapeutic technique for treating ALS. ALS, the most common motor neuron disease in adults, is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder characterized by selective degeneration of both upper and lower motor neurons.
About 90% of cases are sporadic with no genetic connection. While its cause remains elusive in most cases, a subset of about 10% is attributed to . Typically striking men and women aged 40 to 60, ALS carries a grim prognosis with a median survival of two to five years after diagnosis.
About a fifth of genetic ALS cases result from mutations in the superoxide dismutase (SOD1) gene. Extensive research has found that these mutations – numbering over 180 variants – induce motor neuron degeneration via some form of toxicity. However, the precise mechanisms driving this selective toxicity remain unresolved.
A few years ago, Prof. Adria.
