Ice Bucket Challenge Helps Scientists Reach Major Breakthrough For ALS

Last summer it was all about the Lou Gehrig’s Disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) ice bucket challenge. Everyone had fun watching so many celebrities do the ice bucket challenge, as well as challenging their friends and family to do the same. Over $220 million was raised last summer and that lump sum has helped make a major breakthrough.

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ALS is a fast-moving progressive neurological disease that causes the death of nerve cells located in the brain and spinal cord. Over 30,000 people in the U.S suffer from ALS and there is no cure for this terrible disease. Those diagnosed with the disease typically die within 2 to 5 years.

Fortunately, the popularity of the ice bucket challenge brought a lot of awareness to this disease. In addition it gave scientists the money they needed to do the much needed research on this disease and because of that they discovered a major breakthrough.

Jonathan Ling and Philip Wong, scientists at Johns Hopkins have discovered how a brain protein called TDP-43 that is linked to ALS works. They wouldn’t have done it without the money raised from the ice bucket challenge.

Over 10 years ago, researchers discovered that people with ALS many times had clumps of the protein TDP-43 outside of the nucleus of their brain cells, but they never knew if it was the cause or the result of having ALS.

With the money raised, the scientists were able to do experiments with mice and they made a protein that mimics TDP-43 and put it into nerve cells. When the cells came back to life, this let them know that the protein problem is part of the reason the nervous system slowly dies off in ALS.

Due to the success of the ice bucket challenge, the scientists now have funding to begin clinical trials on humans. This could potentially lead to cure of the disease or potentially slow down the progressive disease. See their announcement below: