Major ALS breakthrough!

[KateAggie]

Thank you, ice bucket challenge! I'm so emotional over this!!!

abc7chicago.com/health/ice-bucket-challenge-ices-an-als-breakthrough/950467/

On my phone, if someone else can share the text...

[aurora]

That's awesome!


Ice Bucket Challenge ices an ALS breakthrough

Friday, August 21, 2015 08:00AM

BALTIMORE --
Last August, it seemed everyone was taking the ice bucket challenge to raise awareness and money for research for A-L-S, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.

And now we're seeing how it helped.

Scientists at Johns Hopkins, who took the challenge themselves and got soaked, say they've made a breakthrough, and couldn't have done it so quickly without the money raised through the movement.

Jonathan Ling and Philip Wong say they have discovered how a brain protein called TDP-43 linked to A-L-S works.

And with it, they have developed a potential treatment.

About a decade ago, researchers discovered people with A-L-S often had clumps of TDP-43 protein outside the nucleus of their brain cells.

But they never knew whether it was the cause or the result of the degenerative disease.

In experiments with mice, they made a protein to mimic TDP-43 and put it into the nerve cells, or neurons.

The cells came back to life, indicating the protein problem is at least part of the reason the nervous system slowly dies off in A-L-S.

The Hopkins team already has funding to put their protein into human trials, all because so many people were willing to get wet.

[Deleted]

AMAZING!!!

[elleblue]

(heart)

[KateAggie]

I seriously tear up every time I reread this.

[simpsongal]

Fantastic!! I heard on the news that their ALS research has implications for other brain-related disorders like Alzheimer's.

[anastasia517]

This is amazing.  Clearly, enough people were donating and not just soaking themselves that some good has come out of that craze.

[iammalcolmx]

OMG!!! We had an employee go out on LTD because of an ALS diagnoses. Please god I hope this can help him and others.

[jinkies]

The ice bucket challenge made such a huge difference in funding for both research and services for the ALS community. It's truly amazing.

They are doing it again this year ("every year until a cure") but so far the only folks I've seen post it on facebook have strong ties to the ALS community.

[KateAggie]

Aug 21, 2015 14:28:08 GMT -5 jinkies said:

The ice bucket challenge made such a huge difference in funding for both research and services for the ALS community. It's truly amazing.

They are doing it again this year ("every year until a cure") but so far the only folks I've seen post it on facebook have strong ties to the ALS community.

Maybe this will get people to spread it further.

[penguingrrl]

That's such amazing news!

[mrsdewinter]

Wonderful news. I pray that ALS breakthroughs may lead to treatments for SMA as well.

[irene adler]

It is so emotional to read this. I am so thankful.

[orangeblossom]

I love science!

[turboteal]

Awesome!

[eclaires]

This is awesome!

If you've seen the info graphic or the ALS video about the ice bucket challenge - Jackson, Scarlett and Annie (our dog) are the names used when talking about tagging your friends. Because their aunt is the chief communications and marketing officer at the ALS association so she used their names and they thought they were the coolest and totally famous, lol.

[twotrue]

Fantastic!

[Michelle]

I am so excited about the breakthrough!

Johns Hopkins' Packard Center for ALS research is amazing, and my friend who died from ALS in 2012 (after 15 years of living with it) was a big supporter. His charity he started, Batter Up for an ALS Cure, which has sort of fizzled since his death unfortunately, raised thousands of dollars here in Houston that were donated to the Packard Center. Even Edwin McCain donated his performance which was part of a fundraiser for research.

They are doing great work. There is so much promise. I know that if the Heaven in which I believe is real, my friend is smiling down at us from there. :-)

[epphd]

So awesome. I really hope more people see that dollars in ----> cures out. When we defund research we hurt ourselves.

[cinnamoncox0]

Omg that's incredible! I'm choked up reading this. How amazing.

[helicase]

This is fantastic!

I used to work in a lab that studies a rare neurodegenerative disease. We had a project looking into TDP-43 and, from what I remember, had some promising results. Perhaps this breakthrough can be applied to other neurodegenerative diseases as well. This could be the start of a new era in neurological treatment!

[lolobeth802]

This gives me chills! Totally awesome.