https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/937888
News Release 14-Dec-2021
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Tel-Aviv University
A research group from the Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Sagol School of Neuroscience at Tel Aviv University uncovered, for the first time, the biological mechanism causing nerve destruction in the neurodegenerative disease ALS. The groundbreaking study, led by Prof. Eran Perlson and the doctoral students Topaz Altman and Ariel Ionescu, suggests that the course of this fatal disease can be delayed and even reversed in its early stages.
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ALS is the most common type of motor neuron disease, causing paralysis and muscle atrophy. One out of every 400 people will have the disease, and yet it has no effective cure. ALS patients gradually lose their ability to control their voluntary muscle movements, leading to complete paralysis and eventually lose the ability to breathe independently. The average life expectancy of ALS patients is currently only about three years.
"To this day it is unclear what causes the disease", explains Prof. Perlson. "Only about 10% of the patients carry a familial background with known genetic mutations, but the remaining 90% are a mystery. The paralysis caused by the disease results from damage to the motor neurons, which leads to the degeneration nerve endings and to the loss of muscle innervation. This consequently leads to the degeneration of the nerve and the death of motor neurons in the spinal cord, however until now we could not understand the basic biological mechanism causing the initial damage behind this vicious cascade".
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