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

September 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

Marguerite Beck: marbeck@wakehealth.edu, 336-716-2415