Emerging Insights into the Biology of ALS

A prospective, population-based study suggests that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is familial more often than previously recognized and underscores the relation between ALS and other neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive, ultimately fatal neurodegenerative disease. Traditionally, familial forms of ALS are distinguished from sporadic ALS. This distinction has become increasingly blurred as genetic factors (notably a hexanucleotide repeat expansion in the gene encoding C9orf72) have been implicated in apparently sporadic cases of ALS. A lot of the confusion may boil down to how carefully a family history is solicited and which diseases in family members are taken to imply a familial disease. For example, the increasingly recognized association between ALS and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) raises the question of whether FTD in a family member of someone with ALS should count as a family history. Now, investi…

Reviewing Author

Michael Benatar, MD, MS, PhD

Disclosures

Grant / Research supportNIH NeuroBioBank; ALS Association; NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; NIH/National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences; FDA; Department of Defense

Editorial boardsCochrane Collaboration

Leadership positions in professional societiesMuscle Study Group Executive Committee

Michael Benatar, MD, MS, PhD

Disclosures

Editorial boardsCochrane Collaboration

Leadership positions in professional societiesMuscle Study Group Executive Committee

Emerging Insights into the Biology of ALS

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Reviewing Author