HIF1A and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Furthermore, exposure to repeated hypoxic episodes appears to increase the risk of developing ALS (Vanacore et al., 2010), and studies in mouse models of ALS have found that stabilising HIF-1α, in effect enhancing the hypoxic response mechanism, reduced degeneration of spinal motor neurons and myofibrils of the lower limbs, as well as increasing the lifespan of the mice (Nomura et al., 2019).