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

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.

Comments

Cause, or effect?

[timrod]

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.