2019/11/20
Keio University
In a joint research project, Associate Professor Yoshiaki Furukawa and Assistant Professor Eiichi Tokuda (at the time of the research; currently Senior Assistant Professor, Faculty of Pharmacy, Nihon University) of the Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, along with Dr. Shinji Ohara, Vice Director of the Department of Neurology, National Hospital Organization Matsumoto Medical Center (currently Department of Neurology, Iida Hospital), Professor Isao Hozumi of the Division of Pharmacotherapeutics, Gifu Pharmaceutical University, and Professor Noriko Fujiwara of the Department of Biochemistry, Hyogo College of Medicine, have discovered for the first time in the world that the cerebrospinal fluid collected from patients with the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) contains an extremely cytotoxic SOD1 protein. While it has long been known that mutations in the SOD1 gene, which codes for the SOD1 protein, can cause ALS, this new finding suggests that the SOD1 protein also becomes abnormal and is involved in the onset of sporadic ALS, which has no clear genetic background. Given that 90–95% of ALS cases are sporadic, the discovery in this study is extremely important for understanding the pathogenic mechanism of ALS and developing treatments.
This research was conducted with support from programs including the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas "Life Metal Science" from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). The findings were published in the online edition of the international scientific journal *Molecular Neurodegeneration* on November 19, 2019.
Please see below for the full press release.