1
Prior to 1939, Lou Gehrig was on top of the world. He was coming off several great seasons leading the New York Yankees to World Series titles in 1936, 1937, and 1938. He was so good Time magazine wrote an article in 1936 described Lou Gehrig as “the games number 1 batsman” and someone who “takes boyish pride in banging a baseball as far and running around the bases as quickly, as possible”. However, Lou Gehrig’s career came to an abrupt end by the end of the 1939 season due to a sudden decrease in motor function. Lou Gehrig went to the Mayo Clinic in 1939 where he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly called “Lou Gehrig’s disease” today.2
Today, 73 years after Lou Gehrig was diagnosed, the cause of ALS is still not completely understood. However, some progress is being made. In the research paper our class examined, scientists have identified a mutated gene encoding for an enzyme called SOD1. SOD1 is an enzyme responsible for stopping highly reactive molecules called free radicals from damaging important components in cells. However, in ALS this defective SOD1 enzyme doesn’t stop the free radicals. As a result the body initiates a biological pathway called the p38/MAPK pathway to kill the cell. This leads to the death of many types of cells such as the motor neurons causing ALS.
To better understand the effect of free radicals and the SOD1 enzymes in cells I have thought up a metaphor which may help. Imagine bringing your kids to a toy store. Now imagine your kids had the worst sugar and caffeine rush you have ever seen while you were in the toy store. They would probably be running all over the store, trying to play with every toy in sight and it is up to you to stop them from damaging anything. In essence, this is what is happening in our bodies. The SOD1 enzyme (you) are trying to control the free radicals (kids) from making a mess. Now imagine letting your sugar and caffeine crazed kids, and all other sugar and caffeine crazed kids in the store, wander around unsupervised. This would probably result in a scene similar to one found in the movie Cheaper by the Dozen and if it got too bad the store might have to close down to clean up. This is like what happens in the motor neurons in some ALS patients.
So what can be done to stop ALS? Is stopping the SOD1 gene from mutating the key to stopping motor neuron death in ALS? Unfortunately, it does not seem SOD1 is the key to stopping ALS. Mutation of the SOD1 gene is only responsible for approximately 10% of the ALS cases. The cause of ALS in the other 90% of cases is still unknown. Therefore, to successfully cure ALS additionally research is needed. This means for people like Lou Gehrig there is hope that one day we will cure amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, but it appears that this day may still be in the distant future.
Sources:
1) bleacherreport.com
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Gehrig
The day when als will be solved is not so far off actually. In fact that day is today.
Many people around the world are so called diagnosed with so called als and go on to solve their health problems.
How is this possible?
Well, the truth of the matter is that what is called als is really just a syndrome, a problem with certain symptoms, including cascading neurodegeneration.
What causes the degeneration is not really genes or any specific biological dysfunction. Rather, a group of factors and patterns in peoples lives come together to create the als syndrome. These factors and patterns are diverse and include diet choices, infection issues such as with the spirochete associated with so called Lyme disease, emotional patterns and various types of physical trauma.
So the problem can be solved by finding the underlying factors and patterns and changing what is going on so that rather than disease being created, health is created.
To learn more about how als is created and how it can be solved, see my work, along with the work of Craig Oster, Gabor Mate, Steven Shackel, Dean Ornish and Evy McDonald, among others.