Thirty years after the discovery of SOD1 as one of the genes causing SHE familiar or hereditary – currently this group represents the 10% of cases; he The remaining 90% is sporadic-, new genes have been described and therapies have been used that, such as gene therapies and those based on RNA technology, are shaping the current and future scenario for this neurodegeneration that causes three deaths a day in our country.
It is not curable since lacks current effective treatment, so research remains their best hope. A light that begins to shine, in a timid but decisive way, and whose future challenges They involve being able to address the disease in pre-symptomatic phases, but without forgetting the situation in which those close to them currently find themselves. 4,000 people diagnosed with ALS actually in Spainaccording to data from the Francisco Luzón Foundation which, together with the Ramón Areces Foundation, has brought together scientists specialized in ALS in Madrid at the VII International Meeting of ALS in Spain.
Alberto García Redondodirector of the ALS Research Laboratory at the ALS Unit of the 12 de Octubre Hospital in Madrid, and moderator of the aforementioned international meeting, explains to this medium what steps are being taken, “some of them gigantic”, in both familial and sporadic ALS. and the challenges that arise from the information that comes offof the most recent findings related to the identification of more genesfrom the use of biomarkers and the incipient support of the epigenetics.