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Dormant Virus Wakes Up In Some Patients With Lou Gehrig's Disease

Posted by samzenpus on from the new-treatment dept.

MTorrice writes: Our chromosomes hold a partial record of prehistoric viral infections: About 8% of our genomes come from DNA that viruses incorporated into the cells of our ancestors. Over many millennia, these viral genes have accumulated mutations rendering them mostly dormant. But one of these viruses can reawaken in some patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive muscle wasting disease commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. A new study demonstrates that this so-called endogenous retrovirus can damage neurons, possibly contributing to the neurodegeneration seen in the disease. The findings raise the possibility that antiretroviral drugs, similar to those used to treat HIV, could slow the progression of ALS in some patients.

47 comments

  1. Irony by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 0

    What are the odds that Lou Gehrig would have died of Lou Gherig's disease? Can you imagine his conversation with the doctor?

    1. Re: Irony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, they were going to call it Barclay's syndrome, but he hadn't been born yet, and was fictional, so...

    2. Re: Irony by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      You obviously have never seen this disease kill anyone you know and I hope you never will.

      I have an uncle with ALS. Although he has lost much, he has never lost his sense of humor, and he frequently makes jokes about his condition. Lighten up. ALS is not caused by lame jokes.

      To get back on topic: Instead of just treating this with anti-retroviral pills, we should look into editing out the viral DNA from the human germ line using CRISPR/Cas. Then instead of just treating the symptoms of ALS, we may be able to permanently eliminate it from future generations.

    3. Re: Irony by bizitch · · Score: 1

      Sorry but you misunderstand me - my bad

      Humor is probably the only weapon we have at this point and I understand that.

      I've seen two people I love die this way and its probably the worst possible way to go. The brain is the last thing to go and its aware as the body dies around it. It's horrifying to see. With cancer at least the victim can put up a fight until the end - with this there is no fight.

      God bless you and your Uncle.

      --
      ---- "Logoff! That cookie shit makes me nervous!" - A. Soprano
    4. Re: Irony by Cyberax · · Score: 1

      8% of DNA is HUGE. And endogenous viral DNA is hardly the only offender - simple retrotransposons are just as nasty. We _just_ might be able to edit out several fragments of DNA that cause really bad hereditary diseases in each generation, without causing a lot of cancer-inducing mutations. But 8%? Not a chance.

    5. Re:Irony by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 1

      What are the odds that Lou Gehrig would have died of Lou Gherig's disease?

      Yeah, you'd think he would have seen that coming.

    6. Re: Irony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You obviously have never seen this disease kill anyone you know and I hope you never will.

      Wow, you know everything about me!

    7. Re: Irony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You should realise that people do not fight cancer either. Someone who dies of cancer did not "lose the fight". Using these terms make it seem as if people who die did not have the mentality or the spirit to overcome the disease, that it is partly their own fault.

      Your treatment either works or it does not. Other than strictly following your doctor's advice there is not much you can do.

    8. Re: Irony by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 3, Funny

      I see you have a case of Stage 4 Whiney Pussy Syndrome. I think a couple of massive doses of LightenTheFuckUpFrancis might be called for.

    9. Re: Irony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You obviously have never seen this disease kill anyone you know and I hope you never will.

      If you had, you would know that cheap lame jokes may not be the best thing for your non- Slashdot/real-life Karma.

      With that being said - go fuck yourself anyway.

      You don't get to decide anything about what anybody thinks, says, or feels. You don't get to decide what they think is funny, and you don't get to redefine words in order to control the language of others.

      Go yell at a cloud or something...

    10. Re: Irony by azav · · Score: 1

      One of my former CEOs was diagnosed with ALS and made it his second job to fix his ALS, or he'd be dead. 15 years later and he's not in a wheelchair and he's not dead.

      I know, I know, I know, I know it sounds crazy but he said he used Cayce wet cells (yes, that Cayce) and that put a stop to his ALS. He's no longer taking bags of pills, he's leading another company and he doesn't have ALS.

      I know it sounds nutjobbery, but I'm just passing this on since you don't hear about people halting their illness (especially when it comes to ALS) and if it's useful to others, I hope that it it's put to good use.

      --
      - Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
    11. Re: Irony by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      The majority of cancers are caused by the immune system failing to continue fighting the cancer. Everyone develops cancers, it is usually just dealt with by the immune system though. It is when your immune system can't see the cancer, or otherwise stops fighting it that you "get cancer".

      Perhaps you should think about how you phrase things as well, as that phrasing is very common, and is actually correct.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    12. Re: Irony by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      Um, did you really just try to suggest shocking someone to cure ALS?

      http://www.edgarcayce.org/are/...

      This is homeopathy, which is not medicine, and not science. Perhaps you should turn in your geek card.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    13. Re: Irony by morgauxo · · Score: 1

      You would not want to edit out that whole 8%, only the problem causing stuff. Since we don't ALL have the same heritable diseases I would think you would take the 'better' genes from the people who don't have the disease and splice that in, not just leave gaping 'holes' in the genome.

      As for the rest, leave it alone.

      Some of it has shut off genes that our species doesn't even use. For example, I remember reading that we have a gene that is common to most mammals that produces a protein that the immune system uses to recognize what is not foreign. The human version has a blob of viral dna stuck in the middle that disables it so we do not produce that protein. The gene is also believed to have a second effect in limiting brain formation. That may be one of the many changes that made us human in the first place. Would you want to edit that out?!?!

      I think I also remember reading about how a copy of a gene that allows our (and other animals') bodies to produce a certain vitamin was disrupted this way. (or was that a 'jumping gene'). We didn't lose that ability b/c we had other copies but... no longer functioning this gene became more susceptible to mutation. There was no reason for evolution to conserve a non-functioning gene. It ended up becoming a gene that produces a different vitamin giving us an advantage over species without it. The 'new' gene still has enough similarities to the old one and enough of the viral dna that scientists were able to recognize it, this plus comparison with other animals are how we know the story.

      This stuff just blows creationism out of the water.

  2. Timing by onkelonkel · · Score: 2

    A friend was just diagnosed with ALS. He has a 3-5 year life expectancy at best. If this could give him a few more good years it would be awesome.

    --
    None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.
    1. Re:Timing by Snotnose · · Score: 1

      A childhood friend died of ALS last March. He was 55. He prolly could have lasted another year if he'd agreed to be intubated, he drew the line there.

    2. Re:Timing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      My aunt died of ALS, and lived on a tube for three years, after being tubed while unconscious from a fall event. Eventually she just up and decided her existence was too much to bear, and refused to take nutrients or water. It took a remarkable fourteen days for her to body to give up.

      Life lesson: if you simply refuse to want to exist this way, write and notarize a living will, and tell all of your family about your wishes.

    3. Re:Timing by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      A friend was just diagnosed with ALS. He has a 3-5 year life expectancy at best. If this could give him a few more good years it would be awesome.

      This is a little like Alzheimer's disease. My mother in law was on medications to slow the progression. I think she lived a couple years longer than she would have otherwise. I'd never call them good years though, the experience led me to tell my wife that there would be none of that crap put in my system.

      Pharmaceutical company did very nicely though.

      But here's hoping something can be found.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    4. Re:Timing by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      My dad died of ALS. He was on a ventilator and fed through an NG tube for quite a few years. Having watched how his disease and life progressed, I know I would not choose that for myself... unless there was legitimate, promising research expected to generate a cure in the very near future.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    5. Re:Timing by sconeu · · Score: 1

      My wife died from ALS. It was the most horrible thing I have ever seen in my entire life.

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    6. Re:Timing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Eventually she just up and decided her existence was too much to bear, and refused to take nutrients or water. It took a remarkable fourteen days for her to body to give up.

      If this ever happens to me, I hope someone has the kindness to give me lots of morphine instead of torturing me to death out of some mistaken "do no harm" belief.

  3. Someone is confused... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "I brought a bowling ball for the Lou Gehrig's machine"

  4. Some skepticism by MTorrice · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here is a story from Science that reports some skepticism in the conclusions: http://news.sciencemag.org/hea....

    1. Re:Some skepticism by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

      My scepticism derives from the notion that just because some disease may be caused by the expression of ERV genes, that anti-virals would have any effect. A bit gene sequence is not an actual virus.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:Some skepticism by Cyberax · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, you don't need a complete virus to cause havoc. A simple working reverse transcriptase or integrase is more than enough, even without actual viral DNA/RNA present.

    3. Re:Some skepticism by budgenator · · Score: 1

      It does seem like the antivirals are having an effect in a small group of patients, the question is whether the effect holds up in studies designed to study the effect and are statistically rigorous, and if it isn't significant is that because the population had undiscovered factors complicating the study.

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    4. Re:Some skepticism by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      If these are actually human genes (whatever their origin) being expressed, I can't see how antivirals would have any significant effect. Antivirals, so far as I understand it, act on the viral replication machinery. In other words, they interfere with viruses ability to harness cellular replication machinery. Once the genes are in the genome, there is no longer actually a virus to interfere with.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  5. possibility...could slow the progression by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    all that.

  6. Yes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    About 8% of our genomes come from DNA that viruses incorporated into the cells of our ancestors....

    Yes.

    A new study demonstrates that this so-called endogenous retrovirus can damage...

    Interesting.

    The findings raise the possibility that antiretroviral drugs, similar to those used to treat HIV, could slow the progression of ALS in some patients.

    They almost made the connection. Whats hiding in those repetitive elements that make up 10% of the genome?

    1. Re:Yes by rmdingler · · Score: 1

      Your link amazing coward.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    2. Re:Yes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, it's interesting that there are still parts of the human genome that we don't yet have sequence for (they show up as long runs of N's in the current human reference sequence).

      There's also a subtle point that only one single cell from each parent is passed on to the child. In order to permanently become part of the human genome, a virus would either have to infect a sperm or egg cell that went on to develop into a person.

    3. Re:Yes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was thinking a "meta-virus" that essentially works by splicing together whatever is there to match as close as possible to its goal. Sperm are known for their weird splice variants.

  7. Cause, or effect? by timrod · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What I'm wondering is whether this is something like the plaques that build up with Alzheimer's disease - modern medicine still doesn't know whether the plaques are a cause of Alzheimer's or a by-product of something that is the real cause of the disease. It seems plausible to me that this retrovirus could be to ALS what Kaposi's Sarcoma is to HIV/AIDS - a unique symptom of the underlying disease that certainly makes things worse, but isn't really part of the underlying cause.

    1. Re:Cause, or effect? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ALS is the effect, infection(s!) are the cause.

      Human immune systems combat infections every day. Even latent internal ones.
      A defect or run-away infection of any kind could cause all types of havoc to break loose.
      I think the cause of all neurotropic diseases are something far more local and less exotic.
      Once the immune system falters, everything else can grab a hold over the body.
      The most common treatment study medicines made for ALS, MND, MS, Parkinson etc are antibiotics.
      They keep denying that it is infection based because antibiotics are also anti-inflammatory.
      Still the issue prevails. Is it cause by bacteria or effect by anti-inflammatory?
      I think the former, because most of these patient can get runaway symptoms if you treat them if corticosteroids without antibiotics.
      One of the most common bacteria found in the CNS/brains of deceased MS/Alzheimer patients are the spirochetae.
      Borrelia is one member of that family. Denticola which reside in mouth and in our teeth for most of our lives are another member.

  8. I got Michael Jackson's disease. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stupid pathetic Americans. ALS is Lou Gehrig's Disease?

    My problem is vitiligo, which then would be Michael Jackson's disease. Or so he claimed.
    I walk around with gloves when the sun is shining.
    Well I am a white boy, and while it is certainly a pain in the balls in the summer, I recently met a very dark negro man in Madeira who looked like a freak because of it.

    But still, stupid to have a disease named for the first celebrity that is diagnosed.

    I propose we call stupid 'The American disease'.

    1. Re:I got Michael Jackson's disease. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I propose we call stupid 'The American disease'.

      Nice try, but it still won't get you citizenship.

  9. Karma by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M (4212163) likes to tell everyone that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is A.K.A. Lou Gehrig's disease.

  10. Badly worded headline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did anyone else read the headline and think "Wait... how does a virus wake up with Lou Gehrig's Disease?!"

  11. Apocalypse by mu51c10rd · · Score: 1

    So this is how the zombie apocalypse starts...a dormantancient virus that wakes up. Time to start storing ammo, guns, and food.

  12. Genetically modified humans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    How did we let us into the population? Thanks, Monsanto.

  13. Coren22 wannabe security guru fails security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    YOU say "hosts=bad" (but they add security, speed, & reliability) & bitch on admin privelege to UPDATE vs. threats online:

    "So, have you figured out why privilege escalation is a bad thing yet?" - by Coren22 on Tuesday September 22, 2015 @05:15PM (#50577809)

    Hypocrite - You admit you use admin priv

    &

    How else could I programmatically update hosts minus it in Windows?

    ---

    "Of course it requires elevation to write to the hosts file" - by Coren22 (1625475) on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @05:35PM (#50585879)

    You FINALLY admit later there's no other way!

    FACT:

    Even MalwareBytes AntiMalware (best one) DEMANDS you use admin privelege (you saying it's "bad" too?) it can't do its job fully otherwise, like many security tools do!

    ---

    Aryeh Goretsky NOD32/ESET says hosts = good security -> http://it.slashdot.org/comment...

    Oliver Day (Symantec) does too -> http://www.securityfocus.com/c...

    MalwareBytes' hpHosts hosts & recommends my APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-2 32/64-bit -> http://hosts-file.net/?s=Downl...

    ---

    * HOW MANY SECURITY PROS MORE DO I NEED TO KNOCK THE CHOCOLATE OUTTA YOU?

    ---

    Those security pros INCLUDE me: I work w/ those guys from malwarebytes' hpHosts on a regular basis!

    I've professionally worked for decades as a combined domain-wide network admin & software engineer since 1994 (Even showing you HOW to migrate a hosts across an enterprise -> http://slashdot.org/comments.p... )

    I've also been securing computers + WRITING GUIDES using CIS Tool (who took fixes from me too - bonus) http://www.bing.com/search?q=%...

    You told me you learn from guides? I write 'em (good ones) that MILLIONS USE & was PAID FOR IT http://pcpitstop.com/news/winn...

    + WARES TO PROTECT USERS that're endorsed & hosted by security pros -> http://start64.com/index.php?o...

    You did all that? No & that's a small part of what I could put out.

    APK

    P.S.=> You're all TALK -> http://slashdot.org/comments.p... & a "ne'er-do-well" as far as security

    ...apk

  14. Re:Coren22 CRUSHED & dominated (by facts) by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    Hosts files cure ALS? WHO KNEW!

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  15. Re:Coren22 CRUSHED & dominated (by facts) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Apk cured you Coren22. About time someone did. We all see you troll him and your post history proves it. You messed up big on admin privelege escalation and its use in security programs. So much for your security guru status that from what I read you can't even backup with proof.

  16. how i got cured of ALS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hi everybody, Am kimberly i was diagnosed of ALS disease (Lou Gehrig’s disease) in 2012 and I have tried all I can to get cured but all to no avail, my life was gradually coming to an end, until i saw a post in a health forum about a herbal doctor from Africa who prepares herbal cure to cure HIV/ and all kind of diseases including ALS, MND, Epilepsy, Leukemia, Asthma, Cancer, Gonorrhea etc, at first i doubted if it was real but decided to give it a try, when i contact this herbal doctor via his email, he prepared an ALS herbal portion and sent it to me via courier service, when i received this herbal portion, he gave me step by step instructions on how to apply it, when i applied it as instructed, i was cured of this deadly disease within 7 days, I could not walk or talk understandably before but after i took the herbal cure as he instructed i regained strength in my bones and i could talk properly unlike before, I am now free from the deadly disease, all thanks to Dr EBOLO. Contact this great herbal doctor via his email ebolospelltemple@gmail.com or http://ebolospelltemple.webs.com/