Ninety percent of cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are sporadic and lack a familial association, but the etiology of sporadic ALS remains largely unknown. The laboratory of Dr. Brian Kaspar at Nationwide Children’s Hospital has discovered that overexpression of the HLA-F MHC class I molecule in motor neurons is protective against ALS. Further, they have identified a pharmaceutical composition that increases the expression of HLA-F in motor neurons and would serve as a treatment option for patients with both sporadic and familial ALS.