The aim of this study is to identify regions of all genetic information shared by an Irish ALS patient group and not by the matching control group. 221 Irish patients and 211 Irish controls were included.

16 genes were mapped showing evidence of shared ancestry in at least five Irish ALS patients.

What does this mean?
The area where the differences occured in only MND patients may be involved in the pathogenisis of MND. Further research is warranted to assess in greater detail the identifed areas in the gene. Knowing what exactly caused the difference in the gene at a given area is vital when developing drugs to treat or ultimately cure MND.

This study was sponsored by the IMNDRF and supervised by Dr. Simon Cronin, Research Fellow 2005-2008.