(December 28) The prestigious scientific publication journal Journal of Neuroscience, based at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, has published the results of a study by IRCCS “Mario Negri” Pharmacological Research Institute in Milan, financed by AriSLA, Italian Research Foundation for ALS. The study, starting from previously made observations which showed an abnormality of the enzyme known as PPIA in patients suffering from ALS, has shown that its inhibition by a drug, a derivative of cyclosporine, has beneficial effects in an animal model of ALS and protects the motor neurons, the cells mainly affected by the disease, through a modulation of the aberrant inflammatory response, typical of ALS. It is a major step forward in combating the disease.
ALS: an Italian study reveals a new mechanism
