Washington, DC -- Scientists believe they have found a common cause for the three types of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly knownas Lou Gehrig’s Disease, which could greatly aid efforts to find a treatment for the fatal neurodegenerative disease.

Congressman Eliot Engel said that Northwestern University researchers reported their discovery that the basis of ALS is a malfunctioning protein recycling system in the neurons of the brain and spinal cord. This occurs in all three types of ALS: hereditary, sporadic and ALS that targets the brain. This opens the possibility of finding a common target for drug therapy.

Rep. Engel said, “This is good news in the fight against ALS, a disease that is always fatal and which some 350,000 now suffer from worldwide. We made a major step forward when Congress passed my legislation establishing the National ALS Registry in 2008. ”

The registry is a national database providing an opportunity to better understand one of the most common neuromuscular diseases worldwide, affecting people of all races and ethnic backgrounds – especially between the ages of 55 and 75. The registry gathers and organizes information about potential and known risk factors and symptoms of ALS. This can help researchers evaluate shared risk factors common among patients, such as heredity or possible environmental exposures, and help estimate the number of ALS cases diagnosed each year. 

The Northwestern researchers said this finding about the breakdown of protein recycling in ALS may also prove useful in the study of other neurodegenerative diseases, specifically Alzheimer's and other dementias.

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