Dingo, you're getting to them! :-)
"While roughly 20 percent of ALS cases appear to have a genetic cause, the vast majority of cases appear to arise sporadically, with no known trigger."
Sounds like AIS, doesn't it?
"ScienceDaily (Mar. 2, 2011) — A retrovirus that inserted itself into the human genome thousands of years ago may be responsible for some cases of the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gherig's disease. The finding, made by Johns Hopkins scientists, may eventually give researchers a new way to attack this universally fatal condition.
While roughly 20 percent of ALS cases appear to have a genetic cause, the vast majority of cases appear to arise sporadically, with no known trigger. Research groups searching for a cause of this so-called sporadic form had previously spotted a protein known as reverse transcriptase, a product of retroviruses such as HIV, in ALS patients' serum samples, suggesting that a retrovirus might play a role in the disease. However, these groups weren't able to trace this reverse transcriptase to a specific retrovirus, leaving some scientists in doubt whether retroviruses are involved in ALS.
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Although the researchers express caution, the findings, reported in the January Annals of Neurology, suggest that HERV-K might be the ALS retrovirus that researchers have been looking for.
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He and his colleagues plan to study whether HERV-K might cause neuronal damage, a step closer to linking this retrovirus to ALS. They also plan to study what factors may cause HERV-K to reactivate in some people and lead to ALS symptoms. Researchers might eventually be able to fight ALS, Nath adds, using antiretroviral drugs specific to HERV-K."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0302121911.htm
"While roughly 20 percent of ALS cases appear to have a genetic cause, the vast majority of cases appear to arise sporadically, with no known trigger."
Sounds like AIS, doesn't it?
"ScienceDaily (Mar. 2, 2011) — A retrovirus that inserted itself into the human genome thousands of years ago may be responsible for some cases of the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gherig's disease. The finding, made by Johns Hopkins scientists, may eventually give researchers a new way to attack this universally fatal condition.
While roughly 20 percent of ALS cases appear to have a genetic cause, the vast majority of cases appear to arise sporadically, with no known trigger. Research groups searching for a cause of this so-called sporadic form had previously spotted a protein known as reverse transcriptase, a product of retroviruses such as HIV, in ALS patients' serum samples, suggesting that a retrovirus might play a role in the disease. However, these groups weren't able to trace this reverse transcriptase to a specific retrovirus, leaving some scientists in doubt whether retroviruses are involved in ALS.
/
/
Although the researchers express caution, the findings, reported in the January Annals of Neurology, suggest that HERV-K might be the ALS retrovirus that researchers have been looking for.
/
/
He and his colleagues plan to study whether HERV-K might cause neuronal damage, a step closer to linking this retrovirus to ALS. They also plan to study what factors may cause HERV-K to reactivate in some people and lead to ALS symptoms. Researchers might eventually be able to fight ALS, Nath adds, using antiretroviral drugs specific to HERV-K."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0302121911.htm
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