Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) disease: genes, molecular pathology and diagnostic treatment

Résumé fourni par la source

The debilitating neurodegenerative disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is peculiarized by the dysfunctioning of upper and lower motor neurons. It is an intensifying disease that becomes fatal after a few years of onset. There is no curative therapy or drug available which can stop or reverse the disease progression. The available drugs can only slow the disease progression. This chapter covers the studies made in the past in understanding the pathological mechanisms and molecular genetics as well as in diagnosing and managing the disease. It also encloses the recent growth and improvement in the field concerning genetics, pharmacological, neuroimaging, and stem cell therapy in finding the cure for the disease and how the identification of biomarkers is important to understand the signal propagation mechanism with its strength in the network.