Janet Stewart, MSc,  —

Medicines used for ovarian and breast cancer, called PARP inhibitors, might be repurposed to treat people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a study in cells suggests. This suggestion came from researchers’ work with veliparib (ABT-888), an investigational PARP inhibitor, that found it effectively reduced TDP-43 aggregates — a hallmark of…

Anxiety and depression were found to be associated with caregiver burden in people caring for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients, according to a study. Researchers found that anxiety was mainly observed in those with a low caregiver burden, and depression was seen more widely in those with a high…

The United States has enacted legislation to ensure permanent funding of speech-generating devices that allow people with degenerative diseases such as ALS to communicate. Both houses of Congress unanimously approved the original version of the Steve Gleason Act that was enacted in 2015 but set to expire this year. The…

The higher the levels of uric acid in the blood of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients, the lower the risk of death from all causes, a study found. The body produces uric acid when it breaks down purines, which are substances both normally produced and found in certain…

A protein called neuronal apoptosis inhibitor protein (NAIP) is a potential disease marker and predictor of outcomes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), according to a new study. The protein’s levels in ALS patients and controls were measured in blood samples in the study. The…

Changes in the numbers of immune cells in the blood are associated with the progression of ALS, a study reports. Keeping tabs on the numbers could help doctors track the disease and researchers identify targets to develop treatments around, it said. The study, “Correlation of Peripheral Immunity…

Levels of some microRNAs (MIRs) regulating re-innervation and muscle regeneration among amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients, while others are lower, an Italian study has found. These molecules help distinguish slow from rapid-progression ALS, and the findings suggest that therapeutic approaches targeting these MIRs may help delay disease progression. The study,…

Researchers have slowed the progression of an ALS-like disease in mice, and prolonged their lives, by reducing the activity of a protein receptor that helps transmit signals between nerve cells. The study, which involved the metabotropic glutamate receptor 5, or mGluR5, was published in the journal Neuropharmacology. The article was titled “…

Harvard Medical School researchers have discovered how a mutation of the C9ORF72 gene causes the changes in energy production and nerve cell function that are linked to inherited forms of ALS and frontotemporal dementia, or FTD. The mutation produces two toxic proteins that can disrupt the normal processing of genetic instructions,…

Insilico Medicine has launched ALS.AI, a drug discovery platform for new amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) treatments. It uses a powerful new analytical approach involving “deep learning” to seek out new therapies for the disease — and to evaluate whether existing drugs used to treat other diseases can be repurposed for treating ALS.