Newswise — Los Angeles (July 8, 2021) —“This immune activity is detectable in laboratory mice even before damage to the brain occurs, so the finding could eventually lead to treatments that slow or even stop disease progression at an early stage,” said Deepti Lall, PhD, lead author of the study and project scientist in the Regenerative Medicine Institute at Cedars-Sinai.
ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, damages nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, and is diagnosed in 5,000 people in the U.S. each year. Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a group of disorders that cause loss of nerve cells in the areas of the brain that manage memory, language and emotions, and can strike people as young as 40.
“ALS and FTD represent two of the most devastating and fatal neurodegenerative disorders, and a mutation of the C9orf72 gene is their most frequent cause,” Lall said. “The gene…
