% OF DONORS’ DOLLARS THAT DIRECTLY SUPPORT ALS RESEARCH
ALS Alert Newsletter | March 2010
Straight from the Scientist
Packard Center Director Jeff Rothstein brings considerable expertise on astrocyte biology to the P2ALS table. These nervous system cells found in close contact with neurons—some 2 million contacts (synapses) per astrocyte—are major players in ALS. “Is that the same for astrocytes? We don’t know nearly enough about astrocyte biology, certainly not nearly what we know about motor neurons. Do astrocytes behave differently in different subsets of patients?
Here’s why looking at astrocytes can make a difference:
“We all know that ALS patients are by no means all alike. Just as leukemia patients or other cancer patients aren’t all the same. There are molecular subtypes of patients.
“Is that the same for astrocytes? We don’t know nearly enough about astrocyte biology, certainly not nearly what we know about motor neurons. Do astrocytes behave differently in different subsets of patients?
“With this P2ALS collaboration, we may finally have the tools to identify astrocyte subgroups, both in patients and in the animal models we’ve been using to screen therapeutic drugs.
“Are the subgroups the same in animals and humans? That could be really important to know. That could tell us if a good effect in an animal—on its astrocytes—is more likely to translate to humans.
“It’s really important to know —should astrocyte subgroups exist, as we believe they do— if we should be targeting specific subgroups in clinical drug trials.
“We now have real signs that some drugs that we have thought were failures in humans weren’t really. They may have helped certain subgroups of patients…that’s why this work is so crucial.”
