title: [Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Current clinical trials and underlying pathomechanisms].
abstract: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease leading to death after 3 to 5 years. The glutamate antagonist Riluzole currently is the only drug with marginal therapeutic benefit, but its effect on survival is modest, with an average increase of only 3-4 months. Therefore symptomatic treatment still is the most important. Further neuroprotective agents are currently under investigation, both in transgenic animal models of ALS and clinical trials in ALS patients. This review summarizes the current state of clinical studies in ALS patients in the context of underlying therapeutic mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Neurologische Klinik mit Klinischer Neurophysiologie, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Carl-Neuberg-Strasse 1, Hannover, Germany. Kollewe.Katja@mh-hannover.de
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kollewe
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dengler
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Petri
mesh_terms: D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000818:Animals; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000639:trends*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019782:Riluzole / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D019782:Riluzole