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Introduction: Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson's disease (PD) are neurodegenerative diseases that share common genetic risk factors. A recent genome-wide association study has linked risk of FTD with polymorphisms in the HLA-DRA/HLA-DRB5 gene (rs9268877, rs9268856), BTNL2 gene (rs1980493), and RAB38/CTSC gene (rs302668)., Methods: We used the SNPscan™ Kit to genotype these variants in 400 Chinese patients with sporadic ALS, 554 with sporadic PD and 634 healthy controls., Results: The AA genotype at rs9268856 increased risk of ALS (P=0.005). Mean survival time was significantly shorter in patients with the AA genotype (24.8±16.2months) than in patients with other genotypes (36.9±19.9months; P<0.001). Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox analysis indicated significantly lower survival probability for patients carrying the AA genotype (P<0.001)., Conclusion: Our results suggest that the AA genotype at rs9268856 is an independent risk factor and prognostic factor for ALS in Han Chinese from southwest China., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To analyze the clinical phenotype of a Chinese pedigree affected with Papillon-Lefevre syndrome(PLS) and detect mutation of CTSC gene., Methods: Clinical phenotypes were noted, and oral examination for the proband was carried out for the clinical diagnosis of PLS. PCR and Sanger sequencing were used to identify potential mutation of the CTSC gene. Functional effect of the mutation was predicted with SIFT and PolyPhen-2. Swiss-Port was used to predict the tertiary structure of wild type and mutant proteins. The mRNA and protein expression were analyzed by real-time PCR and Western blotting., Results: A homozygous mutation c.901G>A (p.G301S) in exon 7 of CTSC gene was identified in the patient. Both parents of the patient had carried a heterozygous c.901G>A mutation. The mutation was located in the conserved region of CTSC enzyme and was predicted to be damaging by changing the structure of the protein, which could affect the activity of Cathepsin C. However, no significant difference was found in the expression of p.G301S variant at the mRNA and protein levels compared with that of the wild type CTSC gene., Conclusion: The c.901G>A mutation of the CTSC gene was first reported in China, which has expanded its mutation spectrum.

Papillon-Lefèvre syndrome (PLS) is an inherited human disease characterized by early-onset periodontitis and palmoplantar hyperkeratosis. Mutations of the lysosomal protease cathepsin C (CTSC) gene have been shown to be the genetic cause of Papillon-Lefèvre syndrome. There are several case reports in China, while there has been no study on the genetic analysis of PLS. We studied two Chinese patients carrying Papillon-Lefèvre syndrome and showing premature tooth loss and palmoplantar hyperkeratosis. Mutation screening and sequence analysis of the CTSC gene revealed a compound heterozygous mutation (c.415 G>A and c.778 T>C) in one patient, and two novel compound heterozygous mutations (c.851G>A and c.112delCCTG) in the other patient. Our novel discovery indicates that the phenotypes observed in these two patients are due to the CTSC gene mutation.