[BobbyB]

Italians in ALS breakthrough
Muscle find promises faster diagnosis

2008-11-05 18:29


(ANSA) - Rome, November 5 - Italian scientists have made a breakthrough in research into the killer nerve disease ALS, known in the US as Lou Gehrig's disease.

The researchers led by Antonio Musaro' of Rome University have for the first time found the suspected ALS gene in muscles rather than just nerve cells.

They say the discovery opens up hope for new treatment of the disease, whose full name is Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Until now researchers had only looked at nerve cells to find possible genetic defects which might lead to the nerve-wasting condition, which is a form of Motor Neurone Disease (MND).

''What our work has shown is a new way of seeing the illness,'' Musaro' said in an article to be published in the journal Cell Metabolism.

''Hitherto, knowledge has been limited to motorneurones but it is now clear that the role of those cells is not conclusive. Modification of the characteristics of motorneurones is not the only indicator of the disease''.

Musaro' said his team's work meant ALS should now be regarded as a ''multisystemic'' disease in which 10% of the responsible gene is expressed through muscles.

Muscles, especially large ones in the higher back and legs, should become the ''prime target'' for therapy, he said, allowing ''faster diagnosis and treatment options''.

''Diagnosis should be possible when the patient is not yet in a wheelchair,'' Musaro' said. ALS is one of the most common neuromuscular diseases worldwide and people of all races and ethnic backgrounds are affected. One to two people per 100,000 develop ALS each year and there is no known cure.

ALS most commonly strikes people between 40 and 60 years of age but younger and older people can also develop the disease. Men are affected slightly more often than women.

The disease has gained headlines in Italy recently thanks to high-profile cases of retired soccer players.

In September former Fiorentina and AC Milan striker Stefano Borgonovo revealed he had the disease, which has killed Genoa skipper Gianluca Signorini and some 40 other former players. Italian researchers and criminal prosecutors are trying to understand why soccer players appear to be much more affected than the general population.

In America ALS is named after baseball player Lou Gehrig, the first top sportsman to die of it, in 1941 at the age of 37.

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