The ALS Association Presents The Sheila Essey Award
for ALS Research to Peter Carmeliet

April 3, 2006

The ALS Association (ALSA) will join the American Academy of Neurology in presenting The 2006 Sheila Essey Award for ALS Research to Peter Carmeliet, M.D., Ph.D., during the Academy's 58th Annual Meeting in San Diego, California, April 2-8. 

In the course of investigations into the basis of blood vessel growth, Carmeliet made an astute observation of a possible influence on the disease process of ALS, an insight that has already translated into a therapeutic approach being readied for testing. His discovery, part of a long tradition of serendipity in science, the chance observation that leads to breakthroughs, illustrates how a prepared mind can produce important progress that betters the human condition. For the ALS community, Carmeliet’s contribution means new hope for an effective treatment of a devastating condition.

Carmeliet is professor of medicine at the University of Leuven, Belgium, in the Center of Transgene Technology and Gene Therapy. He studies the molecular basis of the growth of blood vessels in response to tissue demand for oxygen. His work has bearing on the fields of stem cell and embryonic development, tumor growth and treatment, and now neurodegeneration, due to his discovery of the potential role of the protein, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), in motor neuron disease.

“Only five years have elapsed since the serendipitous discovery, yet VEGF is poised as a clinical candidate in ALS research,” commented Lucie Bruijn, Ph.D., science director and vice president of ALSA.

Every year ALSA and AAN present the Essey Award to recognize and further the work of a leading researcher in the field. The $25,000 prize honors the memory of Sheila Essey and was made possible through the generosity of the Essey Family Fund. Past recipients have often used the funds to support postdoctoral research of promising young scientists on their teams.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the award, and past recipients will be hosted with a reception at the annual meeting in San Diego on the evening of April 3.

Carmeliet was studying the effect of the loss of a part of the promoter that activates production of VEGF when he saw that the animals lacking this portion of the control switch for the VEGF gene showed the classic signs of motor neuron loss. He has gone on to show how intricately intertwined are the development of nerves and blood supplies, orchestrated through the action of this crucial growth factor (see  http://www.alsa.org/research/article.cfm?id=830).

Directly testing the role of VEGF in ALS, Carmeliet last year reported key findings. His team showed that giving VEGF directly into the ventricles, the fluid filled space inside the brain, delayed the onset of paralysis, improved motor performance and prolonged survival in rats that recreate many aspects of ALS.

Delivery inside the spaces of the brain produced effects in the cell bodies of distant neurons, supporting the notion that VEGF, like many growth factors, is taken up by nerve endings and transported back along the nerve fibers to the cell bodies. VEGF preserved neuromuscular junctions in the rats that express a mutation in copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD1, G93A mutation) linked with some inherited forms of ALS.

“Our findings in preclinical rodent models of ALS may have implications for treatment of neurodegenerative disease in general,” the researchers concluded in their publication in the January, 2005 issue of Nature Neuroscience.  Plans are underway to develop VEGF as an ALS therapeutic, to be delivered by a gene therapy approach. 

The nomination process and selection of the award winner is under the direction of the American Academy of Neurology as part of its annual Scientific Awards Program. The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more that 18,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to improving patient care through education and research.  A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, autism and multiple sclerosis.  For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit its website at www.aan.com.

Members of the neuroscientific community are encouraged to help AAN and ALSA honor one of their fellow colleagues who, like Peter Carmeliet and such prior winners as Michael Strong, Nigel Leigh, Stanley Appel, and Don Cleveland, are making a significant impact on ALS research, perhaps opening doors to other research paths in understanding and solving the ALS puzzle.