Is This News Reason for Concern in sALS?

[KenG]

Recent research has been published that links more cases of ALS to genetic origins than originally thought. What I'm wondering if these findings mean more cases of sALS will become fALS... I was previously under the impression that most genetic mutations that occur in ALS are not inheritable. So what are your thoughts? Does this news mean more cases are just linked to genetic mutations; or does it mean more cases are genetically inherited? One of the articles concerning these findings can be found here: Study shows more patients with ALS have genetic origin than previously thought | Science Codex

 

[Graybeard]

I don't think genetics plays a part in the fact that veterans have twice the rate of ALS as non-veterans.

 

[KenG]

I agree with that statement. In the article it says that environmental factors may coincide with genetic predispositions. I just don't really understand if this means more sALS cases are in fact fALS cases that just don't show up 100% of the time. The article states that 26% of sALS patients had genetic defects linked to ALS. So does this mean these 26% are in fact fALS, just fALS that is difficult to trace back because it's not a dominant gene that shows up often.

 

[gooseberry]

The way I read it was that they tested 391 patients looking for als mutations. Some new ones showed up that several patients had in common. They theorized that these could be causative mutations and not incidental.

 

[Atsugi]

The article, as I read it, doesn't increase the percentage of FALS, but instead says that gene mutations may be complicit in some SALS case. Not all gene mutations are inherited, and not all those inherited are expressed as a disease.

Many things can cause a gene to mutate: sunlight, smoking, toxins, radiation, as well as mistakes during duplications, so these are not necessarily inherited, either.

 

[gooseberry]

In other words, more studies need to be done. But perhaps they might have found a clue....