{"id":91794,"date":"2024-01-18T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-18T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=91794"},"modified":"2024-01-18T16:08:56","modified_gmt":"2024-01-18T16:08:56","slug":"new-hope-for-als-veterans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=91794","title":{"rendered":"New hope for ALS Veterans"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new clinical research trial at Michael E. DeBakey VA<\/a> is offering Veterans with ALS hope for the future.<\/p>\n

As part of the research trial, 10 Veterans with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis will get the opportunity to receive groundbreaking cell therapy targeted at reducing neuroinflammation as a treatment for the neurodegenerative disease.<\/p>\n

ALS is a rare rapidly progressing and fatal neurodegenerative disorder that affects Veterans twice as often as people who did not serve in the military. People with ALS experience muscle weakness, loss of movement, and difficulty breathing and swallowing, resulting in a severely declining quality of life and eventually death.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very excited to open this first cell therapy trial for ALS in VA,\u201d said Dr. James Orengo, principal investigator of the trial, which began in December.\u00a0\u201cWe know that neuroinflammation fuels the ALS disease process.\u00a0We believe that this new treatment, which involves calming the immune system in the central nervous system, holds great promise in halting this disease. Being a part of this multi-center study will help us give Veterans the opportunity to receive a cutting edge therapeutic that could be life changing. Participants will receive nine intravenous infusions of the study drug over a six-month period. The goal is to significantly\u00a0slow the progression of the disease to allow Veterans to maintain their quality of life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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<\/a>
ALS Clinical Coordinator Richel Aliboso, Principal Investigator Dr. James Orengo and Study Coordinator Michelle Espiritu, clinical trial team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Barbara W. Trautner, deputy associate chief of staff for clinical research, says the new clinical trial is exciting for staff and Veterans alike.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI am thrilled that Houston VA\u2019s investment in our clinical research infrastructure and commitment to research innovation has enabled us to open this potentially groundbreaking trial to help Veterans with ALS.\u00a0Our neurologists jumped at the chance to offer this to our Veterans.\u00a0We are excited to be one of the sites for their novel T regulatory cells therapy for ALS.\u00a0 We hope this is the first of many trials we can open to develop new therapies for Veterans with neurodegenerative disorders,\u201d Trautner said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A \u201cone-stop shop\u201d for patients<\/h2>\n

A new clinic for the treatment of Veterans with ALS opened at Houston VA in 2022. The clinic offers a \u201cone-stop shop\u201d for patients with the disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cVeterans with ALS often see multiple specialists and therapists, usually requiring them to go to different locations\u2014both within and outside our medical center,\u201d said Dr. Mark Kobelja, chief of staff.\u00a0\u201cOur new clinic allows patients to stay in one room and all the specialists to cycle through that room. It is much more convenient and easier for our Veterans and improves the coordination of their care.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

ALS disease currently has no cure, but researchers nationwide\u2014including locally at Houston VA and Baylor College of Medicine\u2014are working hard to find a cure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cServing ALS Veterans is a great honor to me and the rest of the team,\u201d said Orengo. \u201cWe understand the tremendous adaptation the Veteran must face dealing with this disease and we are dedicated to being there for them, to help guide them through the process and enhance their quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new clinical research trial at Michael E. DeBakey VA is offering Veterans with ALS hope for the future. As part of the research trial, 10 Veterans with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis will get the opportunity to receive groundbreaking cell therapy targeted at reducing neuroinflammation as a treatment for the neurodegenerative disease. ALS is a rare […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":91796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[477,925,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-als","category-amyotrophic-lateral-sclerosis","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=91794"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91800,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91794\/revisions\/91800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/91796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=91794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=91794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=91794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}