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Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Current and Future Treatment Strategies

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An Erratum to this article was published on 01 July 1996

Summary

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal, enigmatic disorder characterised by relentless progression of muscle wasting and weakness until death ensues due to respiratory muscle failure. Intellectual functions are usually spared. ALS, known also as motor neuron disease (MND) in the UK, maladie de Charcot in France and Lou Gehrig’s disease in the US, is usually sporadic, but between 5 and 10% of all cases are hereditary, usually inherited as autosomal dominant.

Previously thought to be untreatable, as well as incurable, just in the last 3 years ALS has seen the greatest clinical application of recent exciting breakthroughs in preclinical neurobiology research. Although definitive information regarding the cause(s) and pathogenesis of ALS still escapes us, meaningful demonstration of intercession in the downhill course with specific therapy has been suggested, giving reason to be hopeful, if cautiously and critically optimistic. This review focuses on the recent work from the fields of growth/trophic factors, glutamate/neurotoxicity, neuroprotection and proteases and inhibitors, as well as the approaches to measuring specific effects in patients with the illness. It ends with an eye to the horizon, and the future, and where ALS treatment strategies may be heading after the millennium.

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  1. Neurobiology Research Laboratory, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 4801 Linwood Boulevard, Kansas City, Missouri, 64128, USA

    Barry W. Festoff

  2. University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City, Kansas, USA

    Barry W. Festoff

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An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF03259130.

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Festoff, B.W. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Drugs 51, 28–44 (1996). https://doi.org/10.2165/00003495-199651010-00004

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