Neurodegenerative diseases that affect the motor neurons, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), have little treatment options and are generally rapidly fatal (1, 2). We harnessed the power of unbiased, whole transcriptome differential gene expression analysis, utilizing primary patient cells and tissues to discover genes whose expression defines ALS using published data (3, 4). We found significant differential expression of IL17D, encoding interleukin-17D, in the primary motor neurons

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... of patients with ALS. IL17D was also differentially expressed in the skeletal muscle of patients with ALS. IL17D transcript was present at significantly higher levels in ALS patient motor neurons as compared to control motor neurons. These analyses will begin to define the transcriptional landscape of ALS.