A recent study financed by The ALS Foundation shows that a gene in familial ALS causes oxidative stress to damage DNA in people who have the progressive neurodegenerative disease.
This gene, C9orf72, is the most commonly inherited gene found in familial ALS. Researchers believe that this DNA damage is an important part of developing ALS.
ALS damages the nerve cells located in the spinal cord and the brain. Over time, people with ALS are no longer able to control or initiate muscle movement, resulting in complete paralysis and eventual death. All this happens between just two and five years after receiving a diagnosis. Scientists still don’t know why veterans are two times more likely to develop ALS than civilians.
As of today, there is no cure for the disease, and just one treatment slightly lengthens survival.
“The results from this important study further strengthen the case that oxidative stress contributes to ALS due to the C9orf72 gene mutation,” The ALS Association Chief Scientist Dr. Lucie Bruijn said. “The detection of DNA damage in this cell model is potentially significant, as strategies to reduce DNA damage are the focus of drug development in other fields, and that body of knowledge may accelerate development of new treatments for this form of ALS.”
