ALS Caused by Protein Mutation, Study Finds

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For a certain sickness to be treated, one must find the real cause of it to have a better understanding of what you will be dealing with.

According to Medical Daily, University of North Carolina School of Medicine researchers have found significant evidence that protein mutation can cause ALS or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a fatal neurodegenerative illness that affects a person's spinal cord and nerve brain cells. The new study was published today over the Internet through Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The result of the research provides the most definite indication that protein clumps are toxic to the neurons that can be found in patients that died because of ALS, which is also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Patients with ALS will experience gradual paralysis in different parts of the body, which will disable the capability of a person to move the legs and arms. A person affected also has a trouble swallowing, speaking and breathing that will eventually causes death.

In a report by Eureka Alert, Nikolay Dokholyan, one of the study's lead authors, said that it is not a surprise if one of the most difficult problems to solve in the medical field today is to find better treatment for neurodegenerative diseases.

"Unlike many cancers and other conditions, we currently have no leverage against these neurodegenerative diseases. This study is a big breakthrough because it sheds light on the origin of motor neuron death and could be very important for drug discovery," said Dokholyan, who is a biochemistry professor at the said university.

It took two years for the researchers to finally develop to a solution to trace brain damage that is caused by protein mutation. Using algorithms and the newest technology today, the team has determined the SOD1's structure within the living cells. The SOD1 turned into clumps of three proteins that were found to be the cause of dead neurons.

"This is a major step because nobody has known exactly what toxic interactions are behind the death of motor neurons in patients with ALS," said Elizabeth Proctor, the lead researcher and a graduate student at UNC.

She added that being familiar with these three proteins, also known as "trimmers," can help medical experts into creating a drug that would eventually "stop them from forming, or sequester them before they can do damage." She then said that she is very excited with the development and the possibilities of finding a definitive cure of this disease.