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Published on February 9, 2024
Mutated C9orf72 may cause many cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) through the overproduction of Interleukin-17A (IL-17A), a potent inflammatory molecule, according to new work from researchers at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and collaborators. Treatments that block IL-17A have already been approved by the U.S.…
Published on August 28, 2023
The neurodegenerative diseases amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) which usually manifest later in life may have their roots before a person is born, during embryonic brain development. These are the findings a study published last week in the journal Cell Reports by researchers at the Keck School…
Published on February 24, 2022
Both adult-onset neurodegenerative amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are worsened by genetic variants in a single gene, and the reason for that may be clearer thanks to a recent scientific study. The study shows how TDP-43 protein depletion, associated with almost all cases (97%) of ALS and…
Published on April 1, 2024
Smartphones could help detect dementia early on by reliably and remotely assessing cognitive function, research suggests. A mobile app was able to identify early frontotemporal lobar degeneration, a neurodegenerative pathology that involves changes in personality, cognition, movement, speech, and language. The app identified frontotemporal dementia (FTD) before symptoms appeared in…
Published on May 12, 2023
Researchers have discovered, replicated, and validated a deletion in TPCN1 as a novel risk locus for Lewy Body Dementia (LBD). Since TCPN1 is a known risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, this could mean that it plays a role in the broader dementia population. The team also detected the known structural variants at…
Published on May 10, 2022
A computational model that predicts brain age using a large collection of FDG-PET (fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography) and structural MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) imaging data has been developed by Mayo Clinic scientists. The deep learning-based model tests the relationship between brain age gaps in various forms of dementia, including mild…
Published on April 1, 2021
Researchers at the University of Cambridge have demonstrated how gene therapy might help to repair some of the damage caused by chronic neurodegenerative conditions such as glaucoma and dementia. Their studies in rodents demonstrated how delivering two genes simultaneously using a single vector stimulated axonal transport in a humanized tauopathy…
Published on August 25, 2018
Scientists say they have discovered a molecular link between aging and a major genetic cause of both amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), two related neurodegenerative diseases with shared genetic risk factors. The findings (“TBK1 Suppresses RIPK1-Driven Apoptosis and Inflammation during Development and in Aging”), published in Cell,…
Published on September 26, 2023
AcuraStem and Takeda will jointly develop and commercialize AcuraStem’s PIKFYVE targeted therapeutics, including AS-202, which is an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) for the treatment of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). There are no cures for ALS and most treatments are for symptoms only. “We believe AS-202 has the potential to address this…
Published on July 20, 2023
Researchers at The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and Barrow Neurological Institute say they have detected repetitive expansions (cryptic exons) in the C9ORF72 gene in the brain cells from patients with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). The team noted that it is the first time that disease-linked…
Published on March 11, 2022
Previous research has shown that astrocytes may release one or more toxic factors that contribute to motor neuron death. Now, a new mouse study demonstrates how astrocytes release an inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) that contributes to motor neuron death. Their…
Published on January 31, 2022
Different brain diseases feature different blood levels of certain biomarkers, according to a new study in Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry. This could be a major step forward for diagnosis, treatment, and trials, which all current depend on clinical diagnosis, positron emission tomography, and cerebrospinal fluid analysis. The lead…
Published on March 15, 2021
Transactive response DNA-binding protein-43 (TDP-43) is a soluble protein that interacts with nucleic acids. However, in several neurodegenerative disorders, this protein forms large, harmful rope-like clumps. These abnormal structures, known as amyloid fibrils, are a signature of brain pathology in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Similar inclusions have also been found…
Published on April 28, 2020
A multi-institutional team of researchers from the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), have identified a rare genetic variant that sigifnicantly incresases the risk of developing diseases like Alzheimer disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and frontotemporal…
Published on November 10, 2023
UC Riverside (UCR) scientists have shown they can slow the progression of Huntington’s disease symptoms in fly and worm models, opening the door to treatments for this condition. Huntington’s causes involuntary movements and dementia, currently has no cure, and is fatal. “We are first to discover that a type of…