Diagnosis of idiopathic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopic analysis of patient-derived skin.

One of the great challenges in identifying effective therapy in many neurodegenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), is the lack of reliable biomarkers. In this study, we applied infrared imaging microspectroscopy, a valuable technique to investigate biomolecule fingerprints and secondary structure of proteins within biological tissue. We hypothesized that, since skin and CNS have the same embryonic origin, spectral differences associated with ALS-specific pathological events will be readily detectable through skin testing using this technique.