The ALS Center in the Netherlands has started an international study into the genetic cause of the fatal disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neurone disease in the U.K. and Lou Gehrig’s disease in the U.S. Researchers in project MinE are collecting, examining and comparing as many DNA profiles as possible from ALS patients as well as from healthy volunteers. The study is being coordinated by the University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht and is a step for an ALS treatment.

In MinE, DNA microarrays are used to analyze the DNA of 15,000 ALS patients and 20,000 healthy individuals in a genome-wide association study (GWAS). Researchers then compare DNA profiles to identify genetic differences (a process known as ‘data mining’). The data from these partial profiles are combined with the full DNA profiles of the 15,000 patients and thousands of controls, obtained with whole genome sequencing techniques. This combination of genetic data will identify millions of genetic variants which will be studied to determine their correlation with ALS. The goal of the project is to find genetic evidence leading to new treatments.

The DNA data collected from the control group will also aid research efforts aimed at finding cures for illnesses such as dementia, autism, parkinsonism, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

The analyzed DNA samples come from throughout Europe, not just the Netherlands. "The more DNA samples we can analyze, the more powerful project MinE will be and the more reliable the results will be,” said professor Leonard van den Berg, neurologist at UMC Utrecht Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, coordinator of ALS Center.

Efforts are being made to collaborate with institutes in Great Britain and the U.S.