Can your genetic makeup cause ALS?: The role of DNA

The ALS Therapy Alliance is committed to using state-of-the-art genetic testing techniques to identify why certain people have the disease. Scientists believe that susceptibility to ALS is strongly influenced by genetic makeup and, recently, several genes have been implicated in ALS. There has been substantial progress in identifying new genetic variants that make people susceptible to the disease. In an integral project funded in large part by the ATA, scientists in Boston, Atlanta, London and Chicago are conducting studies of DNA variants that may be associated with enhanced risk of developing ALS.

A large consortium study recently spotlighted in Lancet Neurology has demonstrated that about 10% of sporadic ALS cases are associated with variants in a genetic marker that may also be related to familial ALS and a type of dementia (fronto-temporal dementia). This underscores the importance of finding this ALSFTD gene and also highlights the important potential overlap between inherited and non-inherited forms of ALS.

An ALS Therapy Alliance-funded state-of-the-art genomic center at the University of Massachusetts will allow application of the latest gene identification technology in the search for new ALS genes. The center is conducting a variety of research, including DNA sequencing of ALS patients’ genomes. The ALS Therapy Alliance is collaborating with researchers at Duke University on this project.