Scientists Create Motor Neurons From Skin Cells In ALS Patients
August 1, 2008
Washington (ChattahBox) - U.S. researchers have made a breakthrough as they have announced that they were able to transform skin cells of two patients with ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease into motor neurons, which could help lead to more extensive research of the disease.
Researchers from Harvard Medical School in Boston conducted the successful study, which could lead to a future treatment method for ALS.
As Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS) progresses, motor neurons are the cells which die along with it.
To try and fix this, skin cells were taken from an 82-year old, as well as an 89-year old patient, both with ALS.
They were able to take tehse skin cells, and the transform them into motor neurons.
This will help ALS research immensely, as it will give scientists an unlimited supply of these cells so that they can study them, and figure out how the disease progresses.
Currently, there is no known cure for ALS, which was named Lou Gehrig’s disease after the New York Yankees star died from it in 1941.
The study has been published in the journal Science.
Comments
Got something to say?