ALS is now understood to be a complex multisystem neurodegenerative disease because areas other than the motor cortices of the brain undergo degeneration. Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) may be associated with motor neuron disease, and the transactive response DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) is a major pathological substrate underlying both diseases. The recent discovery of a gene that can cause both FTD, ALS and FTD-ALS, C9ORF72, has modified the way for considering these two pathologies. These findings would allow the development of potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for these devastating diseases. This review summarizes the key points leading up to our current understanding of the genetic, clinical and neuropathological overlap between FTD and ALS.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neurol.2017.04.001 | DOI Listing |
J Neurochem
January 2025
Institute of Biostructures and Bioimaging, Italian National Council for Research (IBB-CNR), Naples, Italy.
The natural compound orotic acid and its anionic form, orotate, play a pivotal role in various biological processes, serving as essential intermediates in pyrimidine de novo synthesis, with demonstrated connections to dietary, supplement, and neurodrug applications. A novel perspective on biomolecular aggregation at the nanoscale, particularly pertinent to neurodegeneration, challenges the established paradigm positing that peptide (amyloid beta) and protein (tau) aggregation mainly govern the molecular events underlying prevalent neuropathologies. Emerging biological evidence indicates a notable role for G-quadruplex (G4) DNA aggregation in neurodegenerative processes affecting neuronal cells, particularly in the presence of extended (GC) repeats in nuclear DNA sequences.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeurology
February 2025
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
Background And Objectives: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is known to be associated with increased plasma phosphorylated tau217 (p-tau217) concentrations, potentially confounding the utility of plasma p-tau217 measurements as a marker of amyloid pathology in individuals with suspected Alzheimer disease (AD). In this study, we quantitatively investigate the relationship of plasma p-tau217 concentrations vs estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in individuals with CKD with and without amyloid pathology.
Methods: This was a retrospective examination of data from 2 observational cohorts from either the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging or the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center cohorts.
Subcell Biochem
January 2025
Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Life Sciences, Institute of Biomedical Sciences (ICB), Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile.
Healthy brain functioning requires a continuous fine-tuning of gene expression, involving changes in the epigenetic landscape and 3D chromatin organization. Alzheimer's disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are three multifactorial neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) that are partially explained by genetics (gene mutations and genetic risk factors) and influenced by non-genetic factors (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSubcell Biochem
January 2025
Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Life Sciences, Institute of Biomedical Sciences (ICB), Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile.
In animals, memory formation and recall are essential for their survival and for adaptations to a complex and often dynamically changing environment. During memory formation, experiences prompt the activation of a selected and sparse population of cells (engram cells) that undergo persistent physical and/or chemical changes allowing long-term memory formation, which can last for decades. Over the past few decades, important progress has been made on elucidating signaling mechanisms by which synaptic transmission leads to the induction of activity-dependent gene regulation programs during the different phases of learning (acquisition, consolidation, and recall).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Neurol
January 2025
Centre de Génétique Humaine, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Besançon, Besançon, France.
Introduction: The MAPT gene encodes Tau, a protein mainly expressed by neurons. Tau protein plays an important role in cerebral microtubule polymerization and stabilization, in axonal transport and synaptic plasticity. Heterozygous pathogenic variation in MAPT are involved in a spectrum of autosomal dominant neurodegenerative diseases known as taupathies, including Alzheimer's disease, Pick's disease, fronto-temporal dementia, cortico-basal degeneration and progressive supranuclear palsy.
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