PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

UMMS researchers identify protein associated with sporadic ALS

Study reveals common link between familial ALS and sporadic ALS

2010-10-19
(Press-News.org) WORCESTER, Mass. – Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School have uncovered new evidence suggesting that the SOD1 gene, which is implicated in 20 percent of inherited cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease), also plays a part in sporadic forms of the disease. Discovery of this common pathology is described in the October 17 online edition of Nature Neuroscience. While the SOD1 gene has long been understood to play a role in familial ALS, scientists suspected a connection to the more common form of ALS, for which there is no known cause, and sought to establish a shared pathological pathway. "This common ALS pathology between sporadic and familial ALS means that current gene silencing and immunotherapeutic treatments being developed in academic and commercial labs that target the mutant SOD1 gene may be extended to target non-mutant SOD1 protein found in sporadic ALS cases," said Daryl Bosco, PhD, assistant professor of neurology and lead author of the study. ALS is a progressive, neurodegenerative disorder affecting the motor neurons in the central nervous system. It is estimated that 5,000 people in the U.S. are newly diagnosed with the disease each year. As motor neurons die, the brain's ability to send signals to the body's muscles is compromised, leading to the loss of voluntary muscle movement, paralysis and eventually death from respiratory failure. The average survival rate for patients with ALS is three to five years. In 1993, a team of researchers led by Robert H. Brown Jr., MD, DPhil, chair of neurology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, discovered the first gene linked to familial ALS, a protein anti-oxidant known as superoxide dismutase, or SOD1. Only 10 percent of ALS cases are familial, while roughly 90 percent are sporadic in nature—meaning there is no identifiable familial risk or family history. When Dr. Brown began researching the genetic causes of familial ALS, he hoped that one day research would provide insight into the more common sporadic form of the disease. "It's been hypothesized that there are common pathogenic pathways between familial and sporadic ALS," said Brown. "Our new findings strongly suggest that is the case." To determine whether the SOD1 protein found in sporadic ALS cases had become toxic via non-inherited modifications, Bosco and colleagues showed that an antibody known to bind specifically to mutant SOD1 also binds to SOD1 modified by oxidation indicating that the oxidized SOD1 protein shared characteristics with the mutant SOD1 protein. Additional experiments showed further that in four out of nine samples from individuals with sporadic ALS, the same antibody recognized the SOD1 protein in spinal motor neurons, evidence that the protein had been modified in a similar way as the mutant SOD1 in familial ALS and in samples oxidized in the lab. Moreover, the SOD1 protein extracted from three of these cases proved toxic to the function of motor neurons in an experimental model. "This research shows that under certain conditions and absent a mutation in the gene, a normal SOD1 protein can have the same toxic characteristics that are found in familial ALS where SOD1 gene is mutated," said Brown. "What's more, we found the presence of these aberrant proteins in select cases of sporadic ALS." "Until now, factors linking both forms of ALS have been lacking," said Bosco. "These results demonstrate that this protein plays a role in both forms of the disease." Bosco cautions that while a modified form of the SOD1 protein may play a part in sporadic cases of ALS, it's still unclear what is causing the modification, how many cases may be as a result of the modification or whether it is the primary cause of the disease. "Despite the presence of the normal gene, we show that modifications to the protein made by the gene makes it behave like the toxic, mutated forms of protein," said Bosco. "Further research is needed to understand properties of this toxic protein and how it's being modified." INFORMATION: This study was supported by funding from the NIH, the ALS Association, the ALS Therapy Alliance, the Angel Fund and Project ALS.

About the University of Massachusetts Medical School The University of Massachusetts Medical School, one of the fastest growing academic health centers in the country, has built a reputation as a world-class research institution, consistently producing noteworthy advances in clinical and basic research. The Medical School attracts more than $255 million in research funding annually, 80 percent of which comes from federal funding sources. The work of UMMS researcher Craig Mello, PhD, an investigator of the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), and his colleague Andrew Fire, PhD, then of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, toward the discovery of RNA interference was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Medicine and has spawned a new and promising field of research, the global impact of which may prove astounding. UMMS is the academic partner of UMass Memorial Health Care, the largest health care provider in Central Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.umassmed.edu.


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Singapore scientists first to perform genome-wide study of human stem cells

2010-10-19
A team of scientists from Singapore led by the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) and the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), two biomedical research institutes of Singapore's Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), have discovered the most important genes in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), a crucial breakthrough in discovering how human stem cells work. Their research, published in top scientific journal Nature, is the first ever genome-wide study of human stem cells on such a massive scale, and its results are crucial in understanding how ...

Vitamin B12 may reduce risk of Alzheimer's disease

2010-10-19
ST. PAUL, Minn. – A new study shows that vitamin B12 may protect against Alzheimer's disease, adding more evidence to the scientific debate about whether the vitamin is effective in reducing the risk of memory loss. The research will be published in the October 19, 2010, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. "Our findings show the need for further research on the role of vitamin B12 as a marker for identifying people who are at increased risk of Alzheimer's disease," said study author Babak Hooshmand, MD, MSc, with Karolinska ...

Soy intake associated with lower recurrence of breast cancer in hormone-sensitive cancers

2010-10-19
Post-menopausal breast cancer patients with hormone-sensitive cancers who consumed high amounts of soy isoflavones had a lower risk of recurrence, found a research study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj091298.pdf. Soy isoflavones are similar to estrogen in chemical structure and may stimulate or inhibit estrogen-like action in tissues. Consumption of soy isoflavones, found in soybeans and soy products, has increased in recent years and there are concerns about the effect of soy consumption ...

Analysis indicates a third H1N1 pandemic wave unlikely in 2010

2010-10-19
Analysis of H1N1 antibody levels (seroprotection rates) after the 2009 pandemic suggest that a third wave is unlikely in 2010, although adults over age 50, particularly those with chronic conditions, should be immunized for the fall flu season, states a research paper in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj100910.pdf. The study, by researchers from the BC Centre for Disease Control, University of British Columbia and BC Biomedical Laboratories, compared blood levels of antibodies against the H1N1 influenza ...

Lessons learned from the H1N1 pandemic

2010-10-19
The H1N1 pandemic influenza provided several important lessons that may help in preparing for future influenza outbreaks, write Drs. Donald Low and Allison McGeer in an analysis in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj100900.pdf. Although the death rate was lower than initially projected, the years of life lost was significant because "deaths from the 2009 pandemic were skewed toward younger ages than deaths from seasonal influenza," write the authors, both affiliated with Mount Sinai Hospital and the University ...

Tackling cognitive deficits in Alzheimer's disease: 1 'STEP' at a time

2010-10-19
Lowering levels of a key protein involved in regulating learning and memory—STtriatal-Enriched tyrosine Phosphatase (STEP)—reversed cognitive deficits in mice with Alzheimer's disease, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in the October 18 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "This finding provides a rationale for drug discovery and for developing therapeutic agents that could inhibit STEP proteins and might improve the outlook for Alzheimer's disease patients," said senior author of the study Paul Lombroso, M.D., professor in the Yale Child ...

Beta carotene and retinitis pigmentosa

2010-10-19
CHICAGO—Today's Scientific Program of the 2010 American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) - Middle East-Africa Council of Ophthalmology (MEACO) Joint Meeting includes a report on beta carotene's ability to improve vision in people with certain incurable retinal diseases. The AAO-MEACO meeting–the world's largest, most comprehensive ophthalmic education conference–is in session October 16 through 19 at McCormick Place, Chicago. 9-cis Beta-Carotene Mat Boost Vision in Some Patients with Incurable Retinal Disease Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a cluster of hereditary disorders ...

New evidence of the power of open access

2010-10-19
New findings settle one of the arguments about Open Access (OA) research publications: Are they more likely to be cited because they were made OA, or were they made OA because they were more likely to be cited? The study, which will be published in PLoS ONE on the first day of Open Access Week (18 October), was carried out by a bi-national team of researchers from the University of Southampton's School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) in the UK and l'Université du Québec à Montréal in Canada. The results show that the OA citation impact advantage is just ...

Surgical complications drop at hospitals that share patient safety data

2010-10-19
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Michigan hospitals reduced surgical complications by nearly 10 percent at a time when the rest of the nation saw no change in complication rates, according to a new study out next week in the Archives of Surgery. Complications dropped at hospitals participating in what's called the Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative, a group of 16 hospitals led by the University of Michigan Health System that agreed to pool data and share information about what keeps patients safe. The fewer patients suffering ventilator associated pneumonias alone, among the ...

News and insights in gastroenterology presented at the ACG's 75th Annual Meeting

2010-10-19
Bethesda, Maryland (October 14, 2010) – Many of the world's preeminent gastroenterologists will gather for the American College of Gastroenterology's (ACG) 75th Annual Scientific Meeting at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas starting Monday October 18, 2010, to review the latest scientific advances in gastrointestinal research, treatment of digestive diseases and clinical practice management. Innovative technologies for the diagnosis and treatment of digestive diseases; insights into digestive health conditions, their causes and how they impact ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Researchers show complex relationship between Arctic warming and Arctic dust

Brain test shows that crabs process pain

Social fish with low status are so stressed out it impacts their brains

Predicting the weather: New meteorology estimation method aids building efficiency

Inside the ‘swat team’ – how insects react to virtual reality gaming 

Oil spill still contaminating sensitive Mauritius mangroves three years on

Unmasking the voices of experience in healthcare studies

Pandemic raised food, housing insecurity in Oregon despite surge in spending

OU College of Medicine professor earns prestigious pancreatology award

Sub-Saharan Africa leads global HIV decline: Progress made but UNAIDS 2030 goals hang in balance, new IHME study finds

Popular diabetes and obesity drugs also protect kidneys, study shows

Stevens INI receives funding to expand research on the neural underpinnings of bipolar disorder

Protecting nature can safeguard cities from floods

NCSA receives honors in 2024 HPCwire Readers’ and Editors’ Choice Awards

Warning: Don’t miss Thanksgiving dinner, it’s more meaningful than you think

Expanding HPV vaccination to all adults aged 27-45 years unlikely to be cost-effective or efficient for HPV-related cancer prevention

Trauma care and mental health interventions training help family physicians prepare for times of war

Adapted nominal group technique effectively builds consensus on health care priorities for older adults

Single-visit first-trimester care with point-of-care ultrasound cuts emergency visits by 81% for non-miscarrying patients

Study reveals impact of trauma on health care professionals in Israel following 2023 terror attack

Primary care settings face barriers to screening for early detection of cognitive impairment

November/December Annals of Family Medicine Tip Sheet

Antibiotics initiated for suspected community-acquired pneumonia even when chest radiography results are negative

COVID-19 stay-at-home order increased reporting of food, housing, and other health-related social needs in Oregon

UW-led research links wildfire smoke exposure with increased dementia risk

Most U.S. adults surveyed trust store-bought turkey is free of contaminants, despite research finding fecal bacteria in ground turkey

New therapy from UI Health offers FDA-approved treatment option for brittle type 1 diabetes

Alzheimer's: A new strategy to prevent neurodegeneration

A clue to what lies beneath the bland surfaces of Uranus and Neptune

Researchers uncover what makes large numbers of “squishy” grains start flowing

[Press-News.org] UMMS researchers identify protein associated with sporadic ALS
Study reveals common link between familial ALS and sporadic ALS