Headlines from day two of International Symposium

The International Symposium on ALS/MND maintains momentum as researchers and clinicians continue to share their knowledge on a wide range of areas in the fields of MND care and research
A key speaker at the neuroimaging session was Dr Martin Turner from Oxford University and the Association’s Oxford MND Care Centre. Three years into his groundbreaking research study to identify a new MND ‘biomarker’ – something unique to the disease and that is measurable in terms of brain scanning, blood tests etc – and he has already published two major brain findings. He is, arguably, the man to talk about neuroimaging and MND.
Dr Turner highlighted the work of international groups working on neuroimaging projects while providing an overview of the first findings from his BioMox project, which is co-funded by the MND Association, in which a common signature of nerve damage in the brains of MND patients has been identified.
He then outlined to delegates the latest findings from the BioMox project which used advanced imaging techniques to look at the relationship between brain function and the rate of disease progression.
Dr Turner has identified a significant difference in levels of activity for certain neurones, which are indirectly linked to movement, in the brains of people with MND compared with healthy individuals. The amount of neurone activity was directly related to the progression rate of the MND patient.
Lower levels of activity were related to people with a slower progressing form of MND and higher levels of activity were found in people with more aggressive forms. This suggests that this raised activity may be a contributor to disease progression. His findings demonstrate another step forward towards developing robust tools that will enable neurologists to have a more accurate understanding of how the disease may affect individuals.
In addition to his prominent slot in the neuroimaging session, Dr Turner has also been on the platform to talk about his findings in support of the concept that people with MND tend to come from a ‘fitter’, more athletic population. His extensive study of medical records revealed a slightly increased occurrence of MND in people with healthier cardiovascular systems. If you naturally excel at sport (or in evolutionary terms, hunting down your dinner), the pay off could be that your nervous system wiring is more vulnerable to MND as you age.
Headlining the genetics session was Prof Teepu Siddique, an eminent MND researcher from North Western University USA, who was invited by the symposium organisers to provide an overview of how genetic advances have identified overlaps with other diseases to help drive MND research forward.
Prof Siddique has a long and distinguished career in MND research. He was responsible for identifying the SOD1 gene in 1993, the first MND-causing gene to be discovered, and findings from his labs have featured heavily in MND research headlines in 2011.
He explained that emerging findings are challenging the concept that MND is an ‘orphan’ disease. Due to the recent discoveries of MND-causing genes, we are starting to see other diseases that are clinically and biologically linked to MND. This knowledge increases researchers’ understanding of multiple diseases, where similar activities within the body may become faulty but lead to different diseases. In his presentation, Prof Siddique discussed the overlap of MND with a form of dementia called frontotemporal dementia (FTD).
Along with clinical evidence, confirmation of the overlap between MND and FTD has been assisted by the discovery of a number of different genes which play a role in both diseases, and sometimes can cause both diseases at the same time for families affected by MND-FTD.
Understanding how MND overlaps with other diseases will enable researchers to develop drugs that may result in a ‘common’ treatment for all related diseases. This also means that researchers who formerly specialised in other diseases may be able to provide some new knowledge to the MND research field. The Association is keen to promote and fund the cross-fertilisation of knowledge between scientists working in very different fields of research as this will play a vital role in forwarding our understanding.
You can keep up to date with the latest from this year’s symposium by reading our research blog.

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