Ride For Life: Promising results in the battle against ALS

New research has shown that rats with a severe form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable disease of the muscles, live longer following the administration of the VEGF protein as a remedy.

Testing the treatment on rats with a severe form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and on rats with a milder form, the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology researchers found that, in both groups, the VEGF-treated rats contracted the disease later than the untreated animals, and they continued to live considerably longer.

VEGF is a signaling substance that controls the growth of blood vessels.

To a large extent, a tissue in need of oxygen manufactures the protein, thereby developing new blood vessels so that the need for oxygen again diminishes. VEGF also helps neurons survive under stressful conditions.

The researchers also investigated what the optimal technique would be for administering VEGF. An ordinary injection proved to be ineffective. But continuous administration of the VEGF protein - by means of a small pump - directly into the cerebrospinal fluid (the fluid that circulates around the brain and the spinal cord) was quite effective.

Furthermore, this technique permits a patient-oriented approach by enabling the administered dose of the VEGF protein to be easily controlled. Ten years ago, treatment with other proteins was tried on patients with ALS, but without success. At that time, however, this method of continuous administration had not yet been tested on animals with ALS. Therefore, the success of VEGF in these test cases offers new hope for trying out proteins such as VEGF on patients with ALS.