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 sporadic ALS using published data (3, 4). We found significant differential expression of COL4A3, encoding collagen type IV alpha 3 chain, in primary fibroblasts of patients with sporadic ALS (SALS). COL4A3 transcript was present at significantly lower levels in SALS patient fibroblasts as compared to control, non-diseased fibroblasts. These analyses will begin to define the transcriptional landscape of sporadic ALS.