Analysis of repeat expansions in Georgian patients with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects the upper and lower motor neurons. Several genetic risk factors have been identified in the past decade with a hexanucleotide repeat expansion in the gene being the most significant. However, the presence of repeat expansion has not been examined in the Transcaucasian region, therefore we aimed to analyse its frequency in Georgian patients with ALS.