Researchers Discover a New Direction for Treating ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease

Researchers have found a new treatment that can delay the onset of symptoms and increase the lifespan for those who are afflicted with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. They announced their findings in a recent press release.

ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is most commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have determined that injections of a particular type of protein can benefit ALS suffers. Currently, only one medication is used to treat ALS/Lou Gerhig's disease.

Researchers used mice to conduct this study. When the mice were given treatments of Hsp70, their lifespans were increased by 10 percent. Hsp70 is the abbreviated name of the protein that researchers have identified for treating ALS. It's official name is recombinant heat shock protein 70.

Currently the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has only approved the use of one drug, Riluzole®, to treat ALS.

This study focused on protecting the motor neurons in the mice that had ALS. Researchers noted that Hsp70 was not detected in the nervous system of the mice. Rather, this treatment, Hsp70, reacted where the neurons and muscles attach. This holds great possibilities since the current treatment only targets the nervous system.

While this study has shown positive signs, researchers caution that many more studies are needed before they could even begin to conduct clinical trials on people.

"This is another piece in the puzzle of what causes ALS and how to best treat it. It's possible that one day a treatment based on this finding could be part of a 'cocktail' for attacking the disease from different fronts," said David Gifondorwa, Ph.D. candidate at Wake Forest, and one of the lead authors of this study.

ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease is generally fatal. It affects the nerves that help us control our muscles. Initially the disease can be difficult to identify because the symptoms seem so general - twitching, cramping muscles, people might stumble or trip more, they could have a bit more difficulty talking, they could have difficulty with tasks that require the use of their hands.