Under construction – not a live service
Sign in
Taking people in FranceNo phase

Searching for Early Warning Signs of ALS in Adults

Tests spinal fluid samples from adults with ALS to find early markers of the disease.

Key facts

Who runs it
Institut National de la Santé Et de la Recherche Médicale, France
Where
Tours, FranceSee the site
Trial code
Registry title
Identification of Early Markers for ALS
Status
Recruiting
People taking part
60 people, planned
Started
30 Sept 2024
Expected to end
Apr 2027
Type of study
Interventional
Treatments tested
  • lumbar puncture
Record updated
7 July 2026

Who can take part

AI summary

From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.

The trial is looking for three groups of adults: people who carry an ALS gene change but have no symptoms, controls without such a change, and people with early ALS or conditions that look like ALS.

Age
18 to 90 years
Sex
All sexes
Disease stage
Gene carriers must have no motor neuron disease symptoms. The ALS group has early or pure motor symptoms, with symptoms lasting no more than 12 months by El Escorial criteria.
Biomarker or test result
Gene carriers must have a disease-causing mutation in a known ALS gene, found by predictive genetic testing at a certified laboratory. Controls must have no known genetic mutation and no known ALS in close family.

Main reasons for not taking part

  • Cannot give consent to the study
  • Under a judicial safeguard measure, guardianship or curatorship
  • Cannot read the information because of language problems, or refuses to read it
  • Pregnant women
  • Cannot attend the planned visits, or refuses blood, tear fluid or urine samples

The registry criteria, word for word

Show all 21 criteriaShow less

Who can take part

  • FIRST GROUP: Premotor gene mutation carriers (PGMC):
  • 18-90 years of age
  • Provision of a written informed consent
  • Affiliation with a social security scheme or beneficiary of such a scheme
  • Diagnosed by a clinically certified laboratory with a disease- causing mutation in a known ALS gene by predictive genetic testing
  • No symptoms of motor neuron disease explainable otherwise than by mutation in a known ALS gene; SECOND GROUP: Control subjects to premotor gene mutation carriers (CTR):
  • 18-90 years of age
  • Provision of a written informed consent
  • Affiliation with a social security scheme or beneficiary of such a scheme
  • No known genetic mutation and no known ALS disease in close family
  • No diagnosed motor-neuron disease; THIRD GROUP: ALS (EALS) / ALS mimics (MIM)
  • 18-90 years of age
  • provision of a written informed consent
  • affiliation with a social security scheme or beneficiary of such a scheme
  • Patients with pure motor symptom or early ALS (EALS) or ALS mimics (MIM); EALS are patients with pure motor symptom / early motor symptoms of ALS, including those, where the diagnosis of ALS can already be made. These may be patients who meet the following criteria:; According to El Escorial criteria : patients who can be classified as possible ALS or those who show upper motor neuron (UMN) signs only or lower motor neuron (LMN) signs only, so that classification as possible ALS is also not possible. Symptoms should not persist for more than 12 months; According to Gold Coast criteria: Patients who do not fulfill the criterion of temporal progression or patients who only show UMN signs or only LMN signs in one region and thus do not fulfill the diagnostic criteria of ALS

Who cannot take part

  • Inability to express consent to the study
  • Persons subject to a judicial safeguard measure, under guardianship or curatorship
  • Linguistic incapacity or psychic refusal to read the information
  • Pregnant women
  • Foreseen inability to attend scheduled visits
  • Persons refusing to take one of the following samples: Acquisition of blood samples, Acquisition of tear fluid samples, Acquisition of urine sample

Check if you might fit

Answer for yourself. This is not a decision: only the study team can say whether you can take part.

  • Are you between 18 and 90 years old?

Where in France

  • CHU ToursTours, FranceContact: Philippe Corcia, PrTaking people

About the trial

What the trial wants to find out

Although several molecules have been proposed as biomarker candidates, a clinically established signature for an early or even premotor diagnosis of ALS is not available. Due to the already advanced, disease stage at the time of diagnosis as well as rapid disease progression, an early diagnosis is mandatory for efficacious disease-modifying therapies.

Read full original descriptionShow less

In this project, the investigators will develop a clinical molecular fingerprint of PGMC that will provide insight into the molecular pathogenesis of ALS and allow earlier diagnosis.

The group in the trial

  • a single armOther group

    all 3 patient groups will have the same tests

    Treatment: lumbar puncture

Questions to ask the study team

  1. How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
  2. Are travel costs paid?
  3. Can I keep my own doctor?
  4. What happens if I want to stop?

Contact the study team: see the registry record → Contacts and Locations

Print a page for my doctor

Data and sources

Registry record
Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
Official title
Identification of Early Markers for ALS
Plain-language title
Searching for Early Warning Signs of ALS in AdultsGenerated from the registry record. The registry title is the official one.
AI summary
From the trial's eligibility criteria. Read by machine on 12 November 2026.
Fit questions
Built from NCT07213440, who can take part
Record updated
7 July 2026