Motor neuron disease

What is motor neuron disease?

Motor Neurone Disease is a devastating disease that causes progressive muscle weakness with death usually between 2-3 years of diagnosis. There is a tail of long surviving patients. Recently a link with cognitive impairment has been established. This research group has expanded to involvement in other neuromuscular diseases including Pompe Disease and Inclusion Body Myopathy amongst others.

What causes motor neuron disease?

The cause of Motor Neurone Disease is unknown. There is a significant genetic contribution but only 10% of patients have a family history. The environmental contributions to MND are poorly understood. The important contribution of disease spread and understanding the phenotype of MND are active areas of research.

What MND research is being done at UQCCR?

There are active groups in UQ across four main areas with work on electrophysiological and blood biomarkers, the important contribution of the metabolism, cognition and genetics to the the pathogenesis and disease burden of MND. At present there are more than 5 clinical trials being conducted with the support of UQCCR. One is the local investigator-driven study (led by Dr Shu Ngo and Dr Derik Steyn) named Met-flex and another is the QBI-led project (Professor Perry Bartlett) named Nu-Nerve. There is no effective therapy so the aim of these studies is to slow disease progression.