According to a paper in the Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology, injections of the amino acid L-serine reduced the levels of protein deposits formed as a result of misfolding, as well as the number of activated microglia cells, in the brains and spinal cords of monkeys. The monkeys, vervets, served as a research model for ALS.
The amino acid is now also being tested in clinical studies. Until these studies are completed, vervet monkeys as a model animal "will serve as an important new tool in our journey to develop new drugs for treating ALS," says Walter Bradley, an ALS expert and one of the authors of the paper.
Full story: Drug Target Review (U.K.)
Translation: Let the Patients Live