ALS Breakthrough Shows Fatal Disease Is Driven by Immune Attack(bloomberg.com)
bloomberg.com
ALS Breakthrough Shows Fatal Disease Is Driven by Immune Attack
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-01/immune-cells-found-to-attack-neurons-in-als-offering-new-treatment-target
ALS is likely an umbrella term for various diseases, as it could stem from multiple causes. In ~10% of the cases, it's of familial origin, but environmental factors, such as eating false morels [1], certain jobs, or playing certain sports, can also trigger ALS, perhaps in a multiple-step manner.
The authors of the Nature article [0] studied whole-blood donations from 40 individuals with ALS and 28 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. This is a very small number to draw conclusions about a disease with such a large disparity of phenotypes that it defeats designing clinical trials.
[0] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09588-6
[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/03/als-outbr...