Scientists Make Lou Gehrig’s disease Breakthrough With Stem Cells
August 1st, 2008 | by admin |
A breakthrough has been made with stem cells that could one day benefit people living with Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Scientists have been able to develop a way of reprogramming cells to grow neurons from people diagnosed with the disease, and because of this are much closer to understanding what causes the disease and what it actually is.
They performed the experiment on 2 people diagnosed with the disease, using their own skin cells to grow the nerves that die as a result of the disease.
Currently there is no cure for the disease, that attacks nerves in the spinal cord and the brain eventually leading to death.
“What we now have in the culture dish is cells that have the same genetic makeup as the ALS patient and they are the same cells that are affected by the disease,” said Dr. Chris Henderson, co-director of the Center for Motor Neuron Biology and Disease at Columbia University.
According to estimates, more than 120,000 new cases of the disease are diagnosed in the United States each year.
The study is published in the journal science.
