China News Service, Hong Kong, January 1 (Reporter Han Xingtong) The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) held a press conference on the 8th to announce that a recent collaborative research project between the research team of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom has revealed a new pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ("ALS").
According to reports, ALS is an adult-onset neurodegenerative disease that affects the brain and spinal cord, leading to muscle weakness, loss of coordination and eventually respiratory failure. The global incidence of ALS is about 10.4 per 4,<> population, and there is no cure yet.
In order to identify the therapeutic target of ALS, a research team led by Professor Chan Hao-yin of the School of Life Sciences at CUHK and the University of Oxford recently conducted a collaborative study and found that a "transcription factor" in the patient's neurons is disturbed, and the activated signaling pathway can lead to ALS. When this signaling pathway is inhibited, the neuronal cell dysfunction of patients will be improved, highlighting that this signaling pathway can be used as a potential drug target for the treatment of ALS neurotoxicity.
The research team is currently screening new drug candidates and testing their efficacy in inhibiting nerve cell death in cell and Drosophila models. Subsequently, the team plans to test potential drug candidates on murine and primate models to further evaluate their effectiveness.
Chan said that the new findings will not only provide us with a better understanding of the pathogenesis of ALS, but also provide guidance for the development of new drug candidates to combat this deadly neurodegenerative disease. He believes that the research will provide new perspectives on the treatment and intervention of ALS.
In addition, in order to grasp the situation and needs of patients, the Hong Kong Muscle Health Association has established the first "ALS Patient Database" in Hong Kong, which collects data on a quarter of patients in Hong Kong. Lu Wenlin, president of the Hong Kong Muscle Health Association, announced at a press conference on the same day that the average onset of the disease was 55 years old from the database survey, and the initial symptoms were hand and foot weakness. Due to the difficulty in identifying the initial symptoms, patients sought medical treatment from an average of 4 doctors and underwent 5 detailed examinations before being diagnosed with ALS, and the survival time of most patients ranged from a few months to 10 years, with a median of 3 years. (ENDS)