halting ALS tagged posts

Copper, zinc superoxide dismutase is essential to life, but when damaged can become toxic. Credit: Photo courtesy of Oregon State University

OSU researchers have announced that they have essentially stopped the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease, for nearly 2 years in one type of mouse model used to study the disease – allowing the mice to approach their normal lifespan. In decades of work, no treatment can do anything but prolong human survival less than a month in ALS. This mouse model is one that may more closely resemble the human reaction to this treatment, using copper-ATSM. Researchers are moving as quickly as possible toward human clinical trials, testing first for safety and then efficacy.

ALS is known to be caused by the death and deterior...