Pioneering research on ALS muscle disease rewarded

Main Category: Neurology / Neuroscience
Article Date: 17 Jun 2005 - 0:00 PDT

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Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is an incurable paralyzing neurodegenerative disorder that strikes five out of every 100,000 persons. The disease usually affects healthy people in the most active period of their lives - without warning or previous family history. Researchers from VIB (the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology), under the direction of Prof. Peter Carmeliet (K.U.Leuven), have been the first to demonstrate the importance of the VEGF protein in this disease. This research is opening prospects for treating ALS, and these promising results are highly appreciated by the persons concerned. The patient organization, ALS Association, has just presented €3000 of collected funds to Peter Carmeliet's team; and Diether Lambrechts and Erik Storkebaum, also members of Prof. Carmeliet's research team, have received the Galenus Prize to the value of €6200.

Incurable muscle disease

ALS can strike anyone. The Chinese leader Mao Tse Tung, the Russian composer Dimitri Sjostakowitz, the legendary New York Yankee baseball player Lou Gehrig, and astrophysicist Stephen Hawking have all been afflicted with ALS. In addition, an unusually large number of top Italian soccer players, airline pilots, and soldiers from the Golf war have been stricken by this fatal disease. About half of them die within three years - some even in the first year - usually as a consequence of asphyxiation, while still 'in full possession of their faculties'.

In a patient with ALS, the nerve bundles that run to the muscles deteriorate. The patient then loses control over his muscles, progressively becoming totally paralyzed, while remaining - disconcertingly - mentally sound. The causative mechanism of this grave, debilitating disease - which has an enormous medico-social impact - remains obscure. At present, the disease is totally untreatable. The consequence is that many ALS patients elect for euthanasia, a very controversial solution. Genetic research by Peter Carmeliet and his team at the Catholic University of Leuven has led to the surprising finding that the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays an important role in this disease process. Subsequent research into using VEGF as a possible treatment shows promise.

A gift from the ALS Association

The ALS Association was founded to serve ALS patients. A short while ago, the Association started collection campaigns for research into ALS. Now, the Association is presenting all of the collected funds to the VIB researchers as a gift of appreciation. The chairman of the ALS Association expressed it to Peter Carmeliet this way: "The Association and its members are extremely appreciative of your dedication, and we hope that this gift can help accelerate the VEGF procedure and thus encourage patients to carry on with hope.' For the moment, the contribution amounts to €3000 - but the Association is planning additional actions, beyond the collection campaigns, to continue to support this research.

Galenus Prize goes to VIB researchers

On 8 May, Diether Lambrechts and Erik Storkebaum from Peter Carmeliet's research group received the Galenus Prize for pharmacology and fundamental research. This €6200 Prize rewards basic research that opens the way to new medical treatments. The research of these two VIB scientists into the therapeutic applications of VEGF for ALS is a shining example of this kind of research. The Galenus Prize is thus an important acknowledgement of the import of their innovative research.

VIB

VIB, the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology, is a research institute where 850 scientists conduct gene technological research in a number of life-science domains, such as human health care and plant systems biology. Through a joint venture with four Flemish universities (Ghent University, the Catholic University of Leuven, the University of Antwerp, and the Free University of Brussels) and a solid funding program for strategic basic research, VIB unites the forces of nine university science departments in a single institute. Through its technology transfer activities, VIB strives to convert the research results into products for the benefit of consumers and patients. VIB also distributes scientifically substantiated information about all aspects of biotechnology to a broad public.

ALS Association

In February 1995, the non-profit organization ALS Association Belgium was officially established by a group of patients and their families. The year before, these people had responded to a call from Hugo Mees, the father of a young ALS patient. All had need of good information, help and coordination of care concerning ALS. The Association addresses itself to all Belgian ALS patients. The management consists solely of ALS patients or their family members, with the advantage that they know the disease and its direct and indirect consequences very well. Their motto is: 'Op de bres voor ALS' (Into the breach for ALS). Since its founding, the Association has grown into a full organization that stands ready - 7 days a week - for people with ALS and their family. The Association now has its own secretariat, which is staffed by volunteers. The registered office is established at Bondgenotenlaan 131, 3000 Leuven. Tel/fax: +32(0)16/29.81.40; e-mail: alssecretariaat@pi.be; website: http://www.als-mnd.be.

The Galenus Prize

The Galenus Prize for pharmaceutical research has been in existence since 1982 in Belgium. Established by Artsenkrant, it is one of the highest awards in the country for which pharmaceutical research can compete. The Prize rewards fundamental research in a key domain of medical science, the results of which make new treatment methods possible. The Prize is awarded on the basis of dossiers that are submitted by the research institutions. The jury is composed of sixteen eminent specialists in their field, drawn from all of the Belgian universities. Since 1991, the Galenus Prize is an international prize that has awarded the develop of molecules that today are impossible to imagine life without. Consider the protease inhibitors or the vaccine against Hepatitis A.

Given that this research can raise a lot of questions for patients, we ask you to please refer questions in your report or article to the email address that VIB makes available for this purpose: patienteninfo@vib.be. Everyone can submit questions concerning this and other medically-oriented research directly to VIB via this address.

Contact: Sooike Stoops
sooike.stoops@vib.be
32-9-244-6611
VIB, Flanders Interuniversity Institute of Biotechnology
http://www.vib.be

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