Potential induced by three proteins: treatment of ALS

The etiology and development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has always been a puzzle in medical science But a new study by the Swedish Royal Institute of technology says they have found three proteins that point the way to revealing the pathology of the deadly disease   "These three proteins are defined as the most influential plasma profile studies active in this field." According to Anna hagmark, a researcher at the Royal Institute of technology's School of affinity protein technology and life sciences   In the search for treatment and early diagnosis of ALS, scientists focus on biomarkers or biological characteristics (reflecting physiological changes in or after the disease) A typical example of biomarkers is troponin, which is secreted in the blood when the heart muscle is damaged, followed by a heart attack   "It's really a good sign," says Anna hagmark The three proteins we found happened to show several different aspects of the pathogenesis of the disease With regard to their role in ALS, they may be a basis for diagnosis or a drug target for people suffering from ALS after more advanced assessment   ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, still has no reliable marker It is a progressive neurodegenerative disease, which destroys nerve cells that control muscle movement, causing muscle atrophy until paralysis ALS affects all skeletal muscles, including those used for breathing and swallowing   Anna hagmark explains that a protein called nffm is a structural component of neurons in the central and peripheral nervous systems If nefm is found in the plasma, it indicates that the nerve fibers have died, resulting in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis   Another protein, RGS18, is a cell signaling protein Studies have shown that the increase in this protein can reflect the degree of muscle degeneration in these patients   The third protein, slc25a20, is mitochondrial protein So it shows this honeycomb structure, which is related to ALS   The team's partner, Warsaw Medical University, provided plasma samples from 367 ALS patients in Poland, 101 of whom were within control The initial protein mass spectrogram was obtained from 352 antibodies from the human protein profile, targeting 278 proteins   "To our knowledge this is the most influential study of plasma profiles published by ALS, in terms of the number of patients included," said Anna hagmark   By looking at plasma samples from Sweden, Poland and Germany, as well as cerebrospinal fluid samples from ALS patients, the researchers will continue this work and verify the results "We will look at these proteins and additional material samples to see if we can confirm our findings," she said   Anna hegmac said that the ongoing research also includes examining the "disease specificity" of markers, that is, whether their findings about als are also related to other neurodegenerative diseases, such as multiple sclerosis.