“The goal of my project is to study T cells in the blood of ALS patients and see if we can identify a destructive phenotype within these T cells, as compared to people who have not developed ALS. If we can pinpoint destructive T cells, this might be an avenue for potential therapy to slow or pause the progression of the disease.”
What if we can detect dangerous T cell responses in the blood of ALS patients?
Funded: January 2023
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, formerly Lou Gehrig’s disease) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder that affects thousands of individuals each year. The exact cause(s) of ALS is unclear; however, we do know that several brain proteins become misfolded and neurotoxic. One potentially promising area of research on ALS involves the immune system. Through my SPARK project, I intend to answer key questions about how T cells may be contributing to ALS. These answers about the immune system could prove critical in the design of immunotherapies for ALS.
A major portion of my project involves the collection of blood from patients with ALS and age-matched healthy donors. Thus far, we have established collaborations with three exceptional clinical sites that provided blood samples that were then processed by LJI’s John and Susan Major Center for Clinical Investigation.
To date, we have received 20 ALS samples, surpassing the intended goal of 15 recruitments. We are still actively receiving healthy control samples. I have performed quality control analysis on a subset of the samples and determined that they are of good quality for our intended assays.
Once both the donor blood samples and the proteins are ready, I will run assays to measure and compare the inflammatory response towards ALS-related proteins.
SPARKing Impact: This SPARK project intends to answer key questions about how T cells may be contributing to ALS. These answers surrounding the immune system could prove critical in the design of immunotherapies in the treatment of ALS.
“The goal of my project is to study T cells in the blood of ALS patients and see if we can identify a destructive phenotype within these T cells, as compared to people who have not developed ALS. If we can pinpoint destructive T cells, this might be an avenue for potential therapy to slow or pause the progression of the disease.”