[extropy-chat] Hopes raised for nerve disease cure within ten years

[Giu1i0 Pri5c0]

The Times - A TREATMENT for a common form of motor neuron disease
could be available within ten years using a new technique that can
switch off the faulty genes responsible in mice, scientists said
yesterday.
Genetic forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the wasting
condition that afflicts Professor Stephen Hawking, could be treatable
using an advanced gene-silencing technique called RNA interference
(RNAi), new research on mice has suggested.
At present there is no cure for any form of motor neuron disease, in
which the nerve cells that control the muscles degenerate and die.
About 5,000 patients in Britain are affected by it, most of whom die
within two to five years of diagnosis.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1524858,00.html