Precision ALS, an ambitious Irish research initiative, will integrate clinical research, data science, and artificial intelligence (AI) to discover the numerous — and potentially targetable — elements that contribute to the development and progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Instead of a one-size-fits-all strategy, the idea is to use this information to decide which treatments will work for each patient.
“Despite significant advances in pre-clinical models that help us understand the biology of disease in animals, the success of clinical trials has been disappointing,” Orla Hardiman, MD, the project’s director and a professor of neurology at Trinity College Dublin, in Ireland, said in a press release.
“We know now that ALS is heterogeneous, meaning that it has different causes and different patterns of progression,” and large amounts of data “are required to understand these differences,” she added.
“Using ‘big data’ analyses, Precision ALS will provide an in-depth understanding of the factors that drive heterogeneity, and in doing so will for the first time allow us to target new and innovative treatments to specific patient subgroups,” Hardiman said.
The project will be led by two SFI research centres: ADAPT and FutureNeuro, with funding from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) of €5 million (almost $5.5 million) and an additional €5 million from industry partners.
Trinity College Dublin leads the ADAPT centre for AI-driven digital content technology, while the RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences in Dublin hosts the FutureNeuro research centre for chronic and neurological illnesses.
“I am delighted to welcome the launch of Precision ALS,” said Philip Nolan, MD, PhD, SFI’s director general. “This collaboration will directly benefit healthcare and patient communities, and yield new knowledge, approaches and treatments with the potential to improve the lives of many.”
Within the RCSI, Precision ALS research “will focus on the evaluation of novel biomarkers including microRNA for ALS, and the development of data-driven prediction models that provide individual patient forecasts of ALS progression,” Fergal O’Brien, PhD, RCSI’s deputy vice chancellor for research and innovation, said in a separate press release.
Of note, changes in specific microRNAs, small molecules that suppress the activity of other genes, have been associated with ALS.
The Irish researchers will collaborate with TRICALS (Treatment Research Initiative to Cure ALS), an independent coalition of renowned ALS scientists, patients, and patient advocacy groups from around Europe dedicated to finding a cure for the disease. The project will involve national and international industry partners as well as charity, including patient organisations.
Precision ALS will also provide an interactive platform for clinical research in ALS across Europe, which will employ artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse massive volumes of data collected in a timely and cost-effective manner from several international sites.
The researchers intend to create innovative and successful medicines for subpopulations of ALS patients by creating the world’s largest multinational multimodal dataset aimed at precision medicine for ALS.
