It is “one more step to understand the mechanisms at work in the disease” of Charcot, according to Inserm (National Institute for Medical Research and Medical Research) this Tuesday, February 4. Researchers from this institute and the University of Strasbourg “have shown that the characteristic symptoms of” disease “are preceded by sleep alterations.”
In his study, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, scientists indicate that “sleep disorders would be present before the appearance of motor disability and respiratory problems.”
These works “highlight a new chronology of the symptoms (…), again questioning the origins of the disease, and in particular the role of the brain in its genesis,” according to Luc Dupuis, researcher at the Inserm and Co -author study.
“A slight hope for patients”
Scientists are still cautious at certain points of their conclusions. “It is still unknown if these disorders are caused by alterations in brain sleep regulation circuits or are triggered by motor symptoms,” they write. These sleep disorders “can be attenuated by attacking neuropeptides (peptide used by the body as a neuromedian) involved in sleep regulation.”
The authors of this study remember that Charcot’s disease is “a deadly disease, which generally leads to death due to progressive paralysis and respiratory failure within 2 to 3 years after the appearance of symptoms.”
For Luc Dupuis, these works “represent a slight hope for patients, and those who declare the disease, imagining that Idag in the first manifestations of it can slow down their extremely fast progression.”
This disease “today affects around 8,000 patients in France with an annual impact close to 2.5 per 100,000 inhabitants”, according to the Association for Research on Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The latter estimates that, by 2040, a 20% increase in the number of patients in France is planned.
Source: BFM TV
