Israeli researchers announced Tuesday that they have uncovered a key mechanism that causes the neurodegenerative disease ALS, which may unlock a way to delay or reverse the condition which affects thousands of people annually.
The team from Tel Aviv University, along with researchers from Sheba Medical Center and from institutes in Germany, France, the UK and US, found that a buildup of a protein called TDP-43 near neuromuscular junctions, which translates neural signals into motor activity, causes motor neurons to degenerate and die by inhibiting mitochondrial production.
“This consequently leads to the degeneration of the nerve and the death of motor neurons in the spinal cord, however until now we could not understand the basic biological mechanism causing the initial damage behind this vicious cascade.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/tel-aviv-university-breakthrough-touted-as-key-to-reversing-als/