Statins could protect against motor neurone disease, scientists suggest

High cholesterol could be a risk factor in development of motor neurone disease, according to a study of genetic data by UK scientists.

A team led by the Queen Mary University of London, in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health in the US said that cholesterol-lowering drugs such as statins could be used to prevent onset of the disease, if confirmed in clinical analysis.

Motor neurone disease (MND) or Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which famously affected the physicist Stephen Hawking, is a fatal neurodegenerative disease for which there is no cure.

The condition affects the brain and nerves, with early symptoms including weakness, slurred speech, difficulty swallowing food, muscle cramps and twitches. Some people also experience changes to their thinking and behaviour.

The condition is more likely to affect people over 50, and most patients succumb to the disease within two to five years of symptom onset.

It affects up to 5,000 adults in the UK at any one time, and the global prevalence is projected to nearly double by 2040, primarily due to ageing of the global population.

Published in the journal Annals of Neurology, the team searched genetic datasets of around 25 million people including more than 337,000 people from the UK Biobank, to find risk factors for developing ALS.

While the datasets did not contain data on individuals’ actual cholesterol levels, the team studied genetic markers that are linked to cholesterol levels.

These are more likely to suggest a causal link with a risk of MND rather than simply associations, which are usually reported from observational studies.

A randomised controlled trial would be the definitive proof to confirm any causal link and the ability of statins to prevent MND.

Dr Alastair Noyce from Queen Mary University of London said: “This is the largest study to-date looking at causal risk factors for motor neurone disease and we saw that higher levels of LDL cholesterol were causally linked with a greater risk of the disease.

“We have well-established drugs that can lower cholesterol and we should look into whether they could protect against this terrible disease, which currently has no cure.”