The study by Gorlewicz and colleagues showed that CD44 was increased in TSCs in end-stage ALS mice compared to age-matched wild-type controls (Gorlewicz et al., 2009) but evidence exists to show that increased expression of other cell-adhesion molecules (such as N-CAM) occurs in parallel with, and may be a compensatory feature against, the early event of fast-twitch muscle denervation (Gordon et al., 2009). This evidence concerns the gene NCAM1 and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.