BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics announced that the first patients have been enrolled in the Phase 3 clinical trial of NurOwn for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). NurOwn is a mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) platform created for the treatment of ALS. Because it is made from MSCs,…

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…

Participating in the 2017 Annual Northeast ALS Consortium (NEALS) meeting in Florida recently, biotech company Oxford BioDynamics presented two different epigenetic signatures for the diagnosis and prognosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The presentation was a result of a prospective study to determine the sensitivity and specificity of two…

This segment from CBS Boston is sharing the good news that the FDA-approved drug Radicava, used for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), is now available for patients in the U.S. MORE: Nine things to know about Radicava The breakthrough drug has been found to slow…

Although there’s no cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, managing it wisely can increase survival and improve patients’ and their families’ quality of life. One tool for managing it is a feeding tube. An article in the journal Neurology covered the pluses and minuses of using the tubes in ALS. It…

A new genome wide association study (GWAS) conducted in multi-ethnic patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has demonstrated that the GPX3-TNIP1 gene locus is significantly associated with ALS. The study, “Cross-ethnic meta-analysis identifies association of the GPX3-TNIP1 locus with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,” was published in…

Research indicates that an injury pathway in fruit fly neurons might be responsible for the loss of synapses in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Findings from the University of Michigan study were published in the open-access journal eLife, titled “Restraint…

This illustrated video from Stichting ALS Nederland briefly explains the neurodegenerative disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). MORE: Could exercise help ALS patients with swallowing? It explains the progression of the disease and how it affects patients. ALS causes the brain and spinal cord to stop transmitting signals to…

Long-term exposure to air pollution increases the risk of a person developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a Dutch study shows. The study, “Long-Term Air Pollution Exposure and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in Netherlands: A Population-based Case–control Study,” appeared in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Scientists say…

This video from Nature Video discusses the neurons behind amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).  The narrator explains that ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that usually begins in adulthood and progresses rapidly. MORE: 16 fast facts about ALS The disease is characterized by the loss of both upper and lower motor neurons,…