ALS Researchers Find Genetic Region Influencing Age at Which People Develop Lou Gehrig’s Disease

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Sept. 7, 2012 -- An international consortium of researchers, including lead author Carl Langefeld, Ph.D., associate professor of public health sciences at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, has identified a region on chromosome 1 that strongly influences the age at which an individual develops amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). For the first time, scientists have found that people with ALS, who have a specific genetic signature within this region on chromosome 1, had an age of onset that is approximately two-and-a-half years earlier than those without it. The study was funded in part by The ALS Association and published in the Sept. 7 issue of Neurobiology of Aging.

The complete news release from the ALS Association is available here.

Media Relations Contacts: