SQSTM1 mutations in French patients with frontotemporal dementia or frontotemporal dementia with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Importance: Mutations in the SQSTM1 gene, coding for p62, are a cause of Paget disease of bone and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Recently, SQSTM1 mutations were confirmed in ALS, and mutations were also identified in 3 patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), suggesting a role for SQSTM1 in FTD.

Objective: To evaluate the exact contribution of SQSTM1 to FTD and FTD with ALS (FTD-ALS) in an independent cohort of patients.

Design: A SQSTM1 mutation was first identified in a multiplex family with FTD by use of whole-exome sequencing. To evaluate the frequency of SQSTM1 mutations, we sequenced this gene in a cohort of patients with FTD or FTD-ALS, with no mutations in known FTD and ALS genes.

Setting: Primary care or referral center.

Participants: An overall cohort of 188 French patients, including 132 probands with FTD and 56 probands with FTD-ALS.

Main Outcomes And Measures: Frequency of SQSTM1 mutations in patients with FTD or FTD-ALS; description of associated phenotypes.

Results: We identified 4 heterozygous missense mutations in 4 unrelated families with FTD; only 1 family had clinical symptoms of Paget disease of bone, and only 1 family had clinical symptoms of FTD-ALS, possibly owing to the low penetrance of some of the clinical manifestations.

Conclusions And Relevance: Although the frequency of the mutations is low in our series (4 of 188 patients [2%]), our results, similar to those already reported, support a direct pathogenic role of p62 in different types of FTD.