This blog is part of the ‘Highlights from Glasgow’ collection of articles, where you can read about the content of some of the talks and posters presented at the 29th International Symposium on ALS/MND.
Several sessions at the Symposium focused on how impairments in key neuronal structures in MND contribute to the development and progression of the disease, and how these could be targeted with therapeutics.
Prof Spires-Jones (C16) opened session 4A with a discussion of the role of synapses in neurodegeneration. Synapse dysfunction and loss is seen in many neurological diseases, including MND, Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia with Lewy bodies. The commonality of synapse loss across these diseases makes it a key therapeutic target, and in addition, most neurological drugs work at the level of synapses, making them a very ‘druggable’ target. Prof Spires-Jones summarised data from her team and others that showed that in MND, synapse degeneration in the frontal cortex is associated with cognitive decline, and damaging TDP-43 protein is found in synapses. Targeting these pathways could be beneficial to prevent or treat MND.
We also heard an interesting talk from Prof Schiavo in session 5A (C29) on the use of axonal transport as a therapeutic target. Deficits in axonal transport are found in many neurological diseases, including MND. These deficits appear before/at disease onset and are likely to be important in the development of MND. Schiavo talked us through data that showed that the p38 MAPK signalling cascade, which is important for axonal transport, is increased in the SOD1 mouse model of MND, and that long-term treatment with a p38 MAPK inhibitor partially restores physiological function in MND neurones in vitro and in vivo. Another example showed that inhibition of the insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF1R) (which is overexpressed in MND patients) restores axonal retrograde transport in a SOD1 mouse in vivo, providing further evidence of the possible beneficial effects of targeting key pathways linked to axonal transport. The take-home message was that axonal impairments are reversible and can be modulated by small molecule inhibitors.
Find out more about the topics discussed in Glasgow on our Periodic table of Symposium at www.mndassociation.org/symplive.
