| 1. |
- Chiang, Huei-Hsin, et al.
(författare)
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Novel TARDBP mutations in Nordic ALS patients
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Human Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-5161 .- 1435-232X. ; 57:5, s. 316-319
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative syndrome primarily affecting the upper and lower motor neurons. A characteristic neuropathological finding in ALS patients is neuronal inclusions positive for TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43). Subsequently, mutations in the gene encoding TDP-43, TARDBP, proved to be involved in the development of ALS. We thus sequenced TARDBP in 177 Nordic ALS patients and found two previously reported (p.A90V and p.S379P) and two novel (p.G357R and p.R361T) missense variations in three familial ALS patients. The p.A90V and p.G357R variations were detected in the same patient and p.R361T was present in a family with both ALS and frontotemporal dementia-ALS. None of the missense variations were present in 200 neurologically healthy controls. However, p.A90V has also been reported in healthy individuals by others. Thus, the data suggest that these variations are rare and p.G357R, p.R361T and p.S379P are likely pathogenic but further functional characterization is needed to prove their pathogenicity. The mutation frequency in TARDBP in Nordic ALS patients was 1.7%. The ALS cohort was highly selected for a positive family history suggesting that mutations in TARDBP generally are a rare cause of ALS in Nordic countries.
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| 2. |
- Lee, Teresa, et al.
(författare)
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Ataxin-2 intermediate-length polyglutamine expansions in European ALS patients
- 2011
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Ingår i: Human Molecular Genetics. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0964-6906 .- 1460-2083. ; 20:9, s. 1697-1700
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal adult-onset neurodegenerative disease primarily affecting motor neurons. We recently identified intermediate-length polyglutamine (polyQ) expansions (27-33 Qs) in ataxin 2 as a genetic risk factor for sporadic ALS in North American ALS patients. To extend these findings, we assessed the ataxin 2 polyQ repeat length in 1294 European ALS patients and 679 matched healthy controls. We observed a significant association between polyQ expansions and ALS (>30 Qs; P= 6.2 × 10(-3)). Thus, intermediate-length ataxin 2 polyQ repeat expansions are associated with increased risk for ALS also in the European cohort. The specific polyQ length cutoff, however, appears to vary between different populations, with longer repeat lengths showing a clear association. Our findings support the hypothesis that ataxin 2 plays an important role in predisposing to ALS and that polyQ expansions in ataxin 2 are a significant risk factor for the disease.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Jonsson, Andreas P., et al.
(författare)
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Minute quantities of misfolded mutant superoxide dismutase-1 cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
- 2004
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Ingår i: Brain. - : Oxford University Press. - 0006-8950 .- 1460-2156. ; 127:Pt 1, s. 73-88
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mutant forms of superoxide dismutase-1 (SOD1) cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by an unknown noxious mechanism. Using an antibody against a novel epitope in the G127insTGGG mutation, mutant SOD1 was studied for the first time in spinal cord and brain of an ALS patient. The level was below 0.5% of the SOD1 level in controls. In corresponding transgenic mice the content of mutant SOD1 was also low, although it was enriched in spinal cord and brain compared with other tissues. In the mice the misfolded mutant SOD1 aggregated rapidly and 20% occurred in steady state as detergent-soluble protoaggregates. The misfolded SOD1 and the protoaggregates form, from birth until death, a potentially noxious burden that may induce the motor neuron injury. Detergent-resistant aggregates, as well as inclusions of mutant SOD1 in motor neurons and astrocytes, accumulated in spinal cord ventral horns of the patient and mice with terminal disease. The inclusions and aggregates may serve as terminal markers of long-term assault by misfolded SOD1 and protoaggregates.
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| 5. |
- Liu, Jian, et al.
(författare)
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Toxicity of familial ALS-linked SOD1 mutants from selective recruitment to spinal mitochondria
- 2004
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Ingår i: Neuron. - : Cell Press. - 0896-6273 .- 1097-4199. ; 43:1, s. 5-17
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- One cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is mutation in ubiquitously expressed copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD1), but the mechanism of toxicity to motor neurons is unknown. Multiple disease-causing mutants, but not wild-type SOD1, are now demonstrated to be recruited to mitochondria, but only in affected tissues. This is independent of the copper chaperone for SOD1 and dismutase activity. Highly preferential association with spinal cord mitochondria is seen in human ALS for a mutant SOD1 that accumulates only to trace cytoplasmic levels. Despite variable proportions that are successfully imported, nearly constant amounts of SOD1 mutants and covalently damaged adducts of them accumulate as apparent import intermediates and/or are tightly aggregated or crosslinked onto integral membrane components on the cytoplasmic face of those mitochondria. These findings implicate damage from action of spinal cord-specific factors that recruit mutant SOD1 to spinal mitochondria as the basis for their selective toxicity in ALS.
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