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Funded Grants

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Crosstalk between immune response and metabolic signaling: targeting leptin/AMPK axis to restore metabolic homeostasis in ALS

Project Overview

Increased metabolism (hypermetabolism) is a characteristic often associated with more aggressive, faster progressing cases of ALS. Recently, after studying blood plasma samples from people with more rapidly progressing disease, Dr. Jasna Kriz discovered that fast progressing individuals often have decreased levels of a hormone called leptin, and increased levels of specific immune markers called CCL16 and sTNF-RII.

With this grant, Dr. Kriz and her team will examine whether these specific blood markers are directly linked to more aggressive forms of disease and therefore whether they may be able to serve as predictors of disease progression. Using ALS cell and mice models, they will also explore whether manipulating the levels of these markers could help to mediate disease progression. Finally, it is hypothesized that the altered leptin levels result from overactivation of an enzyme called AMPK, and the team will determine if targeting this enzyme represents a potential therapeutic strategy for ALS.

This work will shed light on potential biomarkers of ALS disease progression and help researchers to understand whether correcting this abnormal signature can have beneficial effects on slowing disease course.

Principal Investigator

Jasna Kriz , Université Laval

Team Members

Nicolas Dupré, CRCHUQ-Enfant-Jesus, University Laval

Angela Genge, McGill University

Partners and Donors

ALS Canada

Project Ongoing

Crosstalk between immune response and metabolic signaling: targeting leptin/AMPK axis to restore metabolic homeostasis in ALS

  • Program Type

    Team grants

  • Area of research

    Neurodegeneration

  • Disease Area

    ALS

  • Competition

    ALS Canada - Brain Canada Discovery Grants

  • Province

    Québec

  • Start Date

    2021

  • Total Grant Amount

    $125,000

  • Health Canada Contribution

    $62,500

Contact Us

1200 McGill College Avenue
Suite 1600, Montreal, Quebec
H3B 4G7

+1 (514) 989-2989 info@braincanada.ca

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Territorial acknowledgement

The offices of Brain Canada Foundation are located on the traditional, ancestral territory of the Kanien'kehá:ka Peoples, a place which has long served as a site of meeting and exchange amongst nations. We honour and pay respect to elders past, present and emerging, and dedicate ourselves to moving forward in the spirit of partnership, collaboration, and reconciliation. In our work, we focus our efforts on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, particularly those that pertain to improving health for Indigenous Peoples and that focus on advancing our own learning on Indigenous issues.

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