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Tzeplaeff L, Wilfling S, Requardt MV, Herdick M. Current State and Future Directions in the Therapy of ALS. Cells 2023; 12:1523. [PMID: 37296644 PMCID: PMC10252394 DOI: 10.3390/cells12111523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2023] [Revised: 05/19/2023] [Accepted: 05/25/2023] [Indexed: 06/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disorder affecting upper and lower motor neurons, with death resulting mainly from respiratory failure three to five years after symptom onset. As the exact underlying causative pathological pathway is unclear and potentially diverse, finding a suitable therapy to slow down or possibly stop disease progression remains challenging. Varying by country Riluzole, Edaravone, and Sodium phenylbutyrate/Taurursodiol are the only drugs currently approved in ALS treatment for their moderate effect on disease progression. Even though curative treatment options, able to prevent or stop disease progression, are still unknown, recent breakthroughs, especially in the field of targeting genetic disease forms, raise hope for improved care and therapy for ALS patients. In this review, we aim to summarize the current state of ALS therapy, including medication as well as supportive therapy, and discuss the ongoing developments and prospects in the field. Furthermore, we highlight the rationale behind the intense research on biomarkers and genetic testing as a feasible way to improve the classification of ALS patients towards personalized medicine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Tzeplaeff
- Department of Neurology, Rechts der Isar Hospital, Technical University of Munich, 81675 München, Germany
| | - Sibylle Wilfling
- Department of Neurology, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany;
- Center for Human Genetics Regensburg, 93059 Regensburg, Germany
| | - Maria Viktoria Requardt
- Formerly: Department of Neurology with Institute of Translational Neurology, Münster University Hospital (UKM), 48149 Münster, Germany;
| | - Meret Herdick
- Precision Neurology, University of Lübeck, 23562 Luebeck, Germany
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Nona RJ, Xu Z, Robinson GA, Henderson RD, McCombe PA. Age of Onset and Length of Survival of Queensland Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Details of Subjects with Early Onset and Subjects with Long Survival. NEURODEGENER DIS 2022; 22:104-121. [PMID: 36587610 PMCID: PMC10627495 DOI: 10.1159/000528875] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2022] [Accepted: 12/22/2022] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION The aims of the study were to document the characteristics of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients in Queensland, to examine factors influencing age of onset, and survival, and to study those with early-onset (<45 years) disease and those with long (>5 years) survival. METHODS We studied subjects seen at the ALS Clinic at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. We recorded sex, age of onset, region of onset, length of survival, presence of family history, type of disease, and evidence of cognitive involvement. We analysed the influence of these features on age of onset and survival. We analysed the features of patients with early onset of disease and patients with long survival. RESULTS There were 855 ALS patients (505 males) in the cohort. The age of onset was lower in males than females, in patients with a family history of ALS compared to those without, and in patients with spinal onset compared to bulbar onset. Early-onset disease was seen in 10% of patients, and had a greater proportion of males, spinal onset, and classical ALS phenotype compared to late-onset disease. Survival was shorter in females, in patients with bulbar onset, and in patients with classical ALS. Long survival was seen in 18% of patients. Patients with long survival had younger age of onset, greater proportion of males, spinal onset, and fewer patients with classical ALS. CONCLUSION Our study confirms that ALS is more prevalent in males and that spinal onset is more common than bulbar onset. Males have earlier onset but longer survival. We found that overall, patients with classical ALS have worse survival than ALS variants, but some patients who were considered to have classical ALS had long survival. This study confirms the similarity of ALS in our region to ALS in other geographical regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert J. Nona
- Centre for Clinical Research, University of Queensland, Herston, Queensland, Australia
| | - Zhouwei Xu
- Department of Neurology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital, Shanghai, China
| | - Gail A. Robinson
- Queensland Brain Institute and School of Psychology, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia
| | - Robert D. Henderson
- Centre for Clinical Research, University of Queensland, Herston, Queensland, Australia
- Department of Neurology, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston, Queensland, Australia
| | - Pamela A. McCombe
- Centre for Clinical Research, University of Queensland, Herston, Queensland, Australia
- Department of Neurology, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston, Queensland, Australia
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Sun Q, Huo Y, Bai J, Wang H, Cui F, Wang H, Yang F, Huang X. Characteristics of Late-Onset Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in a Chinese Cohort. NEURODEGENER DIS 2021; 21:24-29. [PMID: 34419946 DOI: 10.1159/000519002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2021] [Accepted: 08/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE This retrospective study analyzed the clinical characteristics and prognosis of the elderly amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) population in a large sample. METHODS The study included 1,005 patients with sporadic ALS admitted to Chinese PLA General Hospital between March 2011 and March 2021. We stratified the ALS patients into young and old groups using 2 cutoffs for the age at disease onset (≥65 or ≥70 years old) and compared their demographic, clinical, and survival data. RESULTS The mean onset age of all patients was 52.79 ± 10.55 years, with 123 (12.24%) having a disease onset ≥65 years and 44 (4.38%) having an onset ≥70 years. There were 624 (62.1%) male patients. More bulbar-onset cases were in the late-onset group (p = 0.001). The sex distribution, time from onset to diagnosis, and the time of symptom spread from spinal or bulbar localization to a generalized localization did not differ between groups. Late-onset patients progressed more rapidly and had a significantly shorter survival. CONCLUSIONS Chinese ALS patients have an earlier age at onset and a relatively smaller proportion of old onset than European and Japanese patients. Elderly patients are more likely to have bulbar onset, which is related to rapid progression and a shorter survival.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qionghua Sun
- College of Medicine, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.,Department of Neurology of the First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Yunyun Huo
- Department of Neurology of the First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Jiongming Bai
- College of Medicine, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.,Department of Neurology of the First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Haoran Wang
- College of Medicine, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.,Department of Neurology of the First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Fang Cui
- Neurological Department of Hainan Hospital, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Sanya, China
| | - Hongfen Wang
- Department of Neurology of the First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Fei Yang
- Department of Neurology of the First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Xusheng Huang
- College of Medicine, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.,Department of Neurology of the First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
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Wang M, Liu Z, Du J, Yuan Y, Jiao B, Zhang X, Hou X, Shen L, Guo J, Jiang H, Xia K, Tang J, Zhang R, Tang B, Wang J. Evaluation of Peripheral Immune Activation in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Front Neurol 2021; 12:628710. [PMID: 34248812 PMCID: PMC8264193 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2021.628710] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2021] [Accepted: 05/27/2021] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Accumulating evidence has revealed that immunity plays an important role in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) progression. However, the results regarding the serum levels of immunoglobulin and complement are inconsistent in patients with ALS. Although immune dysfunctions have also been reported in patients with other neurodegenerative diseases, few studies have explored whether immune dysfunction in ALS is similar to that in other neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, we performed this study to address these gaps. In the present study, serum levels of immunoglobulin and complement were measured in 245 patients with ALS, 65 patients with multiple system atrophy (MSA), 60 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), and 82 healthy controls (HCs). Multiple comparisons revealed that no significant differences existed between patients with ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases in immunoglobulin and complement levels. Meta-analysis based on data from our cohort and eight published articles was performed to evaluate the serum immunoglobulin and complement between patients with ALS and HCs. The pooled results showed that patients with ALS had higher C4 levels than HCs. In addition, we found that the IgG levels were lower in early-onset ALS patients than in late-onset ALS patients and HCs, and the correlations between age at onset of ALS and IgG or IgA levels were significant positive. In conclusion, our data supplement existing literature on understanding the role of peripheral immunity in ALS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mengli Wang
- Department of Neurology, The Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Zhen Liu
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Juan Du
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Yanchun Yuan
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Bin Jiao
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Xuewei Zhang
- Health Management Center, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Xuan Hou
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Lu Shen
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.,Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Central South University, Changsha, China.,Key Laboratory of Hunan Province in Neurodegenerative Disorders, Central South University, Changsha, China.,National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Jifeng Guo
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Hong Jiang
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.,Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Central South University, Changsha, China.,Key Laboratory of Hunan Province in Neurodegenerative Disorders, Central South University, Changsha, China.,National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Kun Xia
- Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Jianguang Tang
- Department of Neurology, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Ruxu Zhang
- Department of Neurology, The Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Beisha Tang
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.,Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Central South University, Changsha, China.,Key Laboratory of Hunan Province in Neurodegenerative Disorders, Central South University, Changsha, China.,National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Junling Wang
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.,Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Central South University, Changsha, China.,Key Laboratory of Hunan Province in Neurodegenerative Disorders, Central South University, Changsha, China.,National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
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Li Y, Sun B, Wang Z, He Z, Yang F, Wang H, Cui F, Chen Z, Ling L, Wang C, Huang X. Mutation Screening of the GLE1 Gene in a Large Chinese Cohort of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Patients. Front Neurosci 2021; 15:595775. [PMID: 34025336 PMCID: PMC8131544 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2021.595775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2020] [Accepted: 03/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal progressive neurodegenerative disease involving the upper and lower motor neurons of the spinal cord, brainstem, and cerebral cortex. At least 30 genes have been implicated in familial ALS (fALS) and sporadic ALS (sALS). Kaneb et al. (2015) first carried out a large-scale sequencing study in ALS patients and identified two loss-of-function (LOF) variants in the GLE1 gene. The LOF mutation-induced disruption of RNA metabolism through the haploinsufficiency mechanism is implicated in ALS pathogenesis. A total of 628 ALS patients and 522 individuals without neurodegenerative disorders were enrolled in this study to explore the GLE1 gene contribution to ALS in the Chinese population. All 16 exons and the flanking intron of GLE1 were screened by Sanger sequencing. In total, we identified seven rare GLE1 coding variants, including one novel nonsense mutation and six rare missense mutations in 628 ALS patients. The frequency of GLE1 LOF mutations was 0.16% (1/628) among Chinese sALS patients, implying that it is an uncommon genetic determinant of ALS in Chinese patients. Additionally, the rare missense variants in the hCG1-binding domain of GLE1 impairing the distribution of the hGle1B isoform at the nuclear pore complex (NPC) region may be involved in the pathogenesis of ALS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanran Li
- Neurological Department of the First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Bo Sun
- Geriatric Neurological Department of the Second Medical Center, National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Zhanjun Wang
- Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Zhengqing He
- Neurological Department of the First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Fei Yang
- Neurological Department of the First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Hongfen Wang
- Neurological Department of the First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Fang Cui
- Neurological Department of the First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Zhaohui Chen
- Neurological Department of the First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Li Ling
- Neurological Department of the First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Chaodong Wang
- Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Xusheng Huang
- Neurological Department of the First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
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Clinical Determinants of Disease Progression in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis-A Retrospective Cohort Study. J Clin Med 2021; 10:jcm10081623. [PMID: 33921250 PMCID: PMC8069893 DOI: 10.3390/jcm10081623] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2021] [Revised: 03/29/2021] [Accepted: 04/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease that is ultimately fatal but characterized by substantial phenotypic heterogeneity, which is known to impact long-term course and survival. This study investigated clinical determinants of disease progression and outcome in a large cohort of patients with ALS. Methods: Retrospective analysis included comprehensive data from 625 patients who attended a tertiary ALS centre at least twice. Patients were stratified according to five distinct clinical phenotypes: classical ALS; bulbar ALS; ALS with frontotemporal dementia (ALS-FTD); upper motor neuron predominant (UMNP); and lower motor neuron predominant (LMNP). Results: This study confirmed higher age at symptom onset, shorter latency to diagnosis and more rapid decline in the revised ALS Functional Rating Scale sum score as predictors of poor prognosis. Hazard ratios for shorter survival were higher in patients with ALS-FTD versus classical ALS, and in patients with versus without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Mean survival was longest in the UMNP phenotype group. Conclusions: This study confirmed established predictors of shorter survival in ALS and showed that concomitant COPD in particular relates to poor outcome.
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Kawada T. Prognostic factors in Chinese patients with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. J Clin Neurosci 2020; 78:451. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jocn.2020.04.048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2020] [Accepted: 04/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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