 |
 |
Virus Found In People With Lou Gehrig's Disease January 12, 2000 01:30 PM PST NEW YORK, Jan 12 (Medical Tribune) - A research team has discovered a virus in the spinal cords of victims of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal nervous system disorder also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. Researchers at University of California, Irvine College of Medicine (www.uci.edu) and at the Rockefeller University in Lyon, France, found that 15 of 17 victims of ALS showed evidence of a virus in the motor nerve cells of their spinal cords. The virus was found in only one of 29 people who died of other causes. The virus found is similar to Echovirus-7, an infectious agent known to cause meningitis and rare cases of encephalitis. The findings, which appear in the January issue of Neurology (www.neurology.org), provide the best evidence to date of a possible viral cause of the disease and could result in new treatments for the disorder. "Many researchers have suspected a viral link to ALS, but in this study we were able to identify a virus known for nerve damage in the exact areas of the nervous system that are affected by this disease," said researcher Martina Berger, who conducted the study in France before coming to UCI. "We think this knowledge will help us finally uncover what causes this disease and may someday lead us to developing a treatment." In the study, the authors commented on the elusiveness of ALS: "Although ALS has been described for the first time in 1869, its etiology is still unknown." While viral - as well as metabolic, toxic, genetic and autoimmune - causes have been suspected by scientists, the study's evidence reveals the strongest viral link to ALS thus far. This was due, in part, to researchers' use of a highly specialized technique called a reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, which detects the presence of viruses in the body using trace amounts of their genetic material. ALS became known as Lou Gehrig's disease after the legendary baseball player died from the disorder in 1941. The disease affects the motor nerve cells in the spinal cord, gradually weakening muscles in the body and eventually leading to paralysis. The disease leads to paralysis of the arm, leg, speech and breathing muscles, according to Dr. Hiroshi Mitsumoto, professor of neurology and head of the ALS and muscle division at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center (cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept) in New York, and a member of the ALS Medical Advisory Committee, ALS Association (http://www.alsa.org). It leaves patients, Mitsumoto continued, "unable to communicate or express themselves, unable to breathe and eat." It's often described, he said, as "a live body in a glass coffin." While ALS does not severely affect the brain or, therefore, memory and language, nearly all victims of the disease eventually die from respiratory paralysis, usually about five years after diagnosis. According to the National Institutes of Health (http://www.nih.gov), some 4,600 people in this country are diagnosed with ALS each year. Although current treatments relieve symptoms of the disease, no treatment has yet been found to reverse the course of ALS. While Mitsumoto welcomed the results, he cautioned that they do not yet translate into treatment. The viral cause theory is not new, he said, and while many studies in the past have revealed this link, many others have negated it. "Many more studies are necessary," Mitsumoto concluded. "We should always be open-minded." Berger will continue her research to determine whether the virus is, indeed, the cause of ALS, or whether it is a by-product of a cause of ALS. ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- Neurology (2000;54:1-6) Bob Martone [log in to unmask] http://www.kingwoodcable.com/martone/