Researchers show how Lou Gehrig's disease progression could be delayed February 9, 2017 Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Pellecchia and colleagues hypothesize that interactions between motor neurons and astrocytes are responsible at least in part for the progression of motor neuron death in ALS patients. These interactions are mediated by the EphA4 receptor on motor neurons (which has several structural domains ending with the ligand binding domain in dark blue) and the protein ephrin-B2 (light blue) located on the surface of astrocytes - star-shaped glial cells in the brain and spinal cord. The investigative team has developed a molecule that is capable of breaking the interactions between the EphA4-ligand binding domain and ephrin-B2. The team hypothesizes that such an experimental therapeutic prevents astrocytes from interacting with and inducing motor neuron cell death with yet unknown mechanisms. Credit: Pellecchia lab, UC Riverside. A team of biomedical scientists has identified a molecule that targets a gene known to play a critical role in the rapid progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), sometimes known as Lou Gehrig's disease, the neurodegenerative disease that affects motor neurons - nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that link the nervous system to the voluntary muscles of the body. Read more at: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-02-lou-gehrig-disease.html#jCp
Hmmm, I would have thought that studying the biology of Professor Stephen Hawking would have revealed plenty with regards to ALS. Afterall he was given 2 years to live at the age of 21, and he is now 74 and still kicking.
