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1. Analysis of miRNA rare variants in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and in silico prediction of their biological effects

Author

Alberto Brusati, Antonia Ratti, Viviana Pensato, Silvia Peverelli, Davide Gentilini, Eleonora Dalla Bella, Marta Nice Sorce, Megi Meneri, Delia Gagliardi, Stefania Corti, Cinzia Gellera, Giuseppe Lauria Pinter, Nicola Ticozzi, and Vincenzo Silani

Subjects
ALS, miRNA, WGS, rare variants, bioinformatics, Genetics, QH426-470
Abstract

Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease affecting upper and/or lower motor neurons and characterized by complex etiology. Familial cases show high genetic heterogeneity and sporadic cases (90%) are associated with several genetic and environmental risk factors. Among the genetic risk factors, the contribution of non-coding elements, such as microRNAs (miRNAs), to ALS disease susceptibility remains largely unexplored.Aim: This work aims to identify rare variants in miRNA genes in sporadic ALS (sALS) patients which may cause a defective miRNA maturation or altered target gene recognition by changing miRNA secondary structure or seed sequence, respectively.Methods: Rare variants located in miRNA loci with a minor allele frequency (MAF) < 0.01 were extracted from whole genome sequencing (WGS) data of 100 sALS patients. The secondary pre-miRNA structures were predicted using MiRVas to evaluate the impact of the variants on RNA folding process. Human TargetScan was used to retrieve all the potential target genes of miRNAs with variants in the seed region. Over Representation Analysis (ORA) was conducted to compare the lists of target genes for the reference and mutated miRNAs in the seed sequence.Results: Our analysis identified 86 rare variants in 77 distinct miRNAs and distributed in different parts of the miRNA precursors. The presence of these variants changed miRNA secondary structures in ∼70% of MiRVas predictions. By focusing on the 6 rare variants mapping within the seed sequence, the predicted target genes increased in number compared to the reference miRNA and included novel targets in a proportion ranging from 30 to 82%. Interestingly, ORA revealed significant changes in gene set enrichment only for mutated miR-509-1 and miR-941-3 for which the Gene Ontology term related to “nervous system development” was absent and present, respectively, compared to target lists of the reference miRNA.Conclusion: We here developed a workflow to study miRNA rare variants from WGS data and to predict their biological effects on miRNA folding, maturation and target gene recognition. Although this in silico approach certainly needs functional validation in vitro and in vivo, it may help define the role of miRNA variability in ALS and complex diseases.

Published
2022
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2. Identification of a cytokine profile in serum and cerebrospinal fluid of pediatric and adult spinal muscular atrophy patients and its modulation upon nusinersen treatment

Author

Silvia Bonanno, Paola Cavalcante, Erika Salvi, Eleonora Giagnorio, Claudia Malacarne, Marco Cattaneo, Francesca Andreetta, Anna Venerando, Viviana Pensato, Cinzia Gellera, Riccardo Zanin, Maria Teresa Arnoldi, Claudia Dosi, Renato Mantegazza, Riccardo Masson, Lorenzo Maggi, and Stefania Marcuzzo

Subjects
SMA, nusinersen, immune system, multisystemic, biomarker, Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry, RC321-571
Abstract

Background and objectivesMultisystem involvement in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is gaining prominence since different therapeutic options are emerging, making the way for new SMA phenotypes and consequent challenges in clinical care. Defective immune organs have been found in preclinical models of SMA, suggesting an involvement of the immune system in the disease. However, the immune state in SMA patients has not been investigated so far. Here, we aimed to evaluate the innate and adaptive immunity pattern in SMA type 1 to type 3 patients, before and after nusinersen treatment.MethodsTwenty one pediatric SMA type 1, 2, and 3 patients and 12 adult SMA type 2 and 3 patients were included in this single-center retrospective study. A Bio-Plex Pro-Human Cytokine 13-plex Immunoassay was used to measure cytokines in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of the study cohort before and after 6 months of therapy with nusinersen.ResultsWe detected a significant increase in IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IFN-γ, IL-17A, IL-22, IL-23, IL-31, and IL-33, in serum of pediatric and adult SMA patients at baseline, compared to pediatric reference ranges and to adult healthy controls. Pediatric patients showed also a significant increase in TNF-α and IL-17F levels at baseline. IL-4, IFN-γ, Il-22, IL-23, and IL-33 decreased in serum of pediatric SMA patients after 6 months of therapy when compared to baseline. A significant decrease in IL-4, IL-6, INF-γ, and IL-17A was detected in serum of adult SMA patients after treatment. CSF of both pediatric and adult SMA patients displayed detectable levels of all cytokines with no significant differences after 6 months of treatment with nusinersen. Notably, a higher baseline expression of IL-23 in serum correlated with a worse motor function outcome after treatment in pediatric patients. Moreover, after 6 months of treatment, patients presenting a higher IL-10 concentration in serum showed a better Hammersmith Functional Motor Scale Expanded (HFMSE) score.DiscussionPediatric and adult SMA patients show an inflammatory signature in serum that is reduced upon SMN2 modulating treatment, and the presence of inflammatory mediators in CSF. Our findings enhance SMA knowledge with potential clinical and therapeutic implications.

Published
2022
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3. MiR-146a in ALS: Contribution to Early Peripheral Nerve Degeneration and Relevance as Disease Biomarker

Author

Eleonora Giagnorio, Claudia Malacarne, Paola Cavalcante, Letizia Scandiffio, Marco Cattaneo, Viviana Pensato, Cinzia Gellera, Nilo Riva, Angelo Quattrini, Eleonora Dalla Bella, Giuseppe Lauria, Renato Mantegazza, Silvia Bonanno, and Stefania Marcuzzo

Subjects
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, microRNA-146a, axon degeneration, biomarker, Biology (General), QH301-705.5, Chemistry, QD1-999
Abstract

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is characterized by the progressive, irreversible loss of upper and lower motor neurons (UMNs, LMNs). MN axonal dysfunctions are emerging as relevant pathogenic events since the early ALS stages. However, the exact molecular mechanisms leading to MN axon degeneration in ALS still need to be clarified. MicroRNA (miRNA) dysregulation plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of neuromuscular diseases. These molecules represent promising biomarkers for these conditions since their expression in body fluids consistently reflects distinct pathophysiological states. Mir-146a has been reported to modulate the expression of the NFL gene, encoding the light chain of the neurofilament (NFL) protein, a recognized biomarker for ALS. Here, we analyzed miR-146a and Nfl expression in the sciatic nerve of G93A-SOD1 ALS mice during disease progression. The miRNA was also analyzed in the serum of affected mice and human patients, the last stratified relying on the predominant UMN or LMN clinical signs. We revealed a significant miR-146a increase and Nfl expression decrease in G93A-SOD1 peripheral nerve. In the serum of both ALS mice and human patients, the miRNA levels were reduced, discriminating UMN-predominant patients from the LMN ones. Our findings suggest a miR-146a contribution to peripheral axon impairment and its potential role as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for ALS.

Published
2023
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4. Cortical markers of cognitive syndromes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Author

Monica Consonni, Valeria E. Contarino, Eleonora Catricalà, Eleonora Dalla Bella, Viviana Pensato, Cinzia Gellera, Giuseppe Lauria, and Stefano F. Cappa

Subjects
Computer applications to medicine. Medical informatics, R858-859.7, Neurology. Diseases of the nervous system, RC346-429
Abstract

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) can be associated with a spectrum of cognitive and behavioural symptoms, but the related patterns of focal cortical atrophy in non-demented ALS patients remain largely unknown. We enrolled 48 non-demented ALS patients and 26 healthy controls for a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment and a magnetic resonance exam. Behavioural and cognitive impairment was defined on the basis of a data-driven multi-domain approach in 21 ALS patients. Averaged cortical thickness of 74 bilateral brain regions was used as a measure of cortical atrophy. Cortical thinning in a fronto-parietal network, suggesting a disease-specific pattern of neurodegeneration, was present in all patients, independent of cognitive and behavioural status. Between-group and correlational analyses revealed that inferior frontal, temporal, cingular and insular thinning are markers for cognitive and behavioural deficits, with language impairment mainly related to left temporal pole and insular involvement. These specific correlates support the concept of a spectrum of deficits, with an overlap between the ALS cognitive phenotypes and the syndromes of frontotemporal dementia. Keywords: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Cognitive impairment, Cortical thickness, Temporal lobe, Cognitive profiles

Published
2018
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5. Dysregulation of Muscle-Specific MicroRNAs as Common Pathogenic Feature Associated with Muscle Atrophy in ALS, SMA and SBMA: Evidence from Animal Models and Human Patients

Author

Claudia Malacarne, Mariarita Galbiati, Eleonora Giagnorio, Paola Cavalcante, Franco Salerno, Francesca Andreetta, Cinza Cagnoli, Michela Taiana, Monica Nizzardo, Stefania Corti, Viviana Pensato, Anna Venerando, Cinzia Gellera, Silvia Fenu, Davide Pareyson, Riccardo Masson, Lorenzo Maggi, Eleonora Dalla Bella, Giuseppe Lauria, Renato Mantegazza, Pia Bernasconi, Angelo Poletti, Silvia Bonanno, and Stefania Marcuzzo

Subjects
motor neuron diseases, muscle-specific microRNAs, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, spinal muscular atrophy, spinal bulbar muscular atrophy, mouse models, Biology (General), QH301-705.5, Chemistry, QD1-999
Abstract

Motor neuron diseases (MNDs) are neurodegenerative disorders characterized by upper and/or lower MN loss. MNDs include amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), and spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA). Despite variability in onset, progression, and genetics, they share a common skeletal muscle involvement, suggesting that it could be a primary site for MND pathogenesis. Due to the key role of muscle-specific microRNAs (myomiRs) in skeletal muscle development, by real-time PCR we investigated the expression of miR-206, miR-133a, miR-133b, and miR-1, and their target genes, in G93A-SOD1 ALS, Δ7SMA, and KI-SBMA mouse muscle during disease progression. Further, we analyzed their expression in serum of SOD1-mutated ALS, SMA, and SBMA patients, to demonstrate myomiR role as noninvasive biomarkers. Our data showed a dysregulation of myomiRs and their targets, in ALS, SMA, and SBMA mice, revealing a common pathogenic feature associated with muscle impairment. A similar myomiR signature was observed in patients’ sera. In particular, an up-regulation of miR-206 was identified in both mouse muscle and serum of human patients. Our overall findings highlight the role of myomiRs as promising biomarkers in ALS, SMA, and SBMA. Further investigations are needed to explore the potential of myomiRs as therapeutic targets for MND treatment.

Published
2021
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6. Cognitive Syndromes and C9orf72 Mutation Are Not Related to Cerebellar Degeneration in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Author

Monica Consonni, Eleonora Dalla Bella, Anna Nigri, Chiara Pinardi, Greta Demichelis, Luca Porcu, Cinzia Gellera, Viviana Pensato, Stefano F. Cappa, Maria Grazia Bruzzone, Giuseppe Lauria, and Stefania Ferraro

Subjects
cerebellum, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, cortical thickness, cortical volume, cognitive impairment, Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry, RC321-571
Abstract

ObjectiveThe notion that cerebellar pathology may contribute to cognitive impairment in ALS, especially in patients with C9orf72 repeated expansion, has been inconsistently reported. This study aimed exploring the relationship between cerebellar involvement, cognitive impairment and C9orf72 repeated expansion of patients with ALS.MethodsQuantitative in vivo assessment of cerebellar lobules has been investigated in 66 non-demented patients with ALS and 28 healthy controls (HCs). Pathologic C9orf72 repeated expansion was found in 13 patients. Mild cognitive and/or behavioral impairment was diagnosed in 22 C9orf72 negative ALS patients. Measures of cortical volume (CV) and cortical thickness (CT) of cerebellar lobules of all participants were used for Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to identify clusters of lobular measures highly correlated with each other. PCA outcomes were used for between group comparisons and correlation analyses with neuropsychological and clinical features.ResultsDisease severity measured with ALS functional rating scale and index of disease progression rate significantly correlated with CV reduction of the second PCA cluster loading CV measures of anterior lobules. In all patients, cognitive impairment, measured with verbal fluency, was related to CV reduction of the third cluster comprising posterior lobules. No specific cortical thinning or volume reduction of cerebellar clustering patterns could be detected in ALS subgroups.ConclusionOur data show that specific patterns of subregional cerebellar involvement are associated with physical disability or cognitive impairment in ALS, in line with the topographic organization of the cerebellum. However, there was no specific correlation between cerebellar degeneration and cognitive syndromes or C9orf72 mutations.

Published
2019
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7. Sorting Rare ALS Genetic Variants by Targeted Re-Sequencing Panel in Italian Patients: OPTN, VCP, and SQSTM1 Variants Account for 3% of Rare Genetic Forms

Author

Viviana Pensato, Stefania Magri, Eleonora Dalla Bella, Pierpaola Tannorella, Enrica Bersano, Gianni Sorarù, Marta Gatti, Nicola Ticozzi, Franco Taroni, Giuseppe Lauria, Caterina Mariotti, and Cinzia Gellera

Subjects
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, next generation sequencing, gene panel, genetic heterogeneity, mutation screening, Medicine
Abstract

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an adult-onset progressive neurodegenerative disease due to motor neuron loss variably associated with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Next generation sequencing technology revealed an increasing number of rare and novel genetic variants and interpretation of their pathogenicity represents a major challange in the diagnosis of ALS. We selected 213 consecutive patients with sporadic or familial (16%) ALS, tested negative for SOD1, FUS, TARDBP, and C9orf72 mutations. To reveal rare forms of genetic ALS, we performed a comprehensive multi-gene panel screening including 46 genes associated with ALS, hereditary motor neuronopathies, spastic paraplegia, and FTD. Our study allowed the identification of pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants in 4.2% of patients. The genes with the highest percentage of pathogenic variants were OPTN (1%), VCP (1%) SQSTM1(1%), SETX (0.4%), FIG4 (0.4%), and GARS1 (0.4%) genes. We also found 49 novel or rare gene variants of unknown significance in 30 patients (14%), 44 unlikely pathogenic variants (39%), and 48 variants in ALS susceptibility genes. The results of our study suggest the screening of OPTN, VCP, and SQSTM1 genes in routine diagnostic investigations for both sporadic and familial cases, and confirm the importance of diagnosis and couselling for patients and their relative family members.

Published
2020
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8. Behavioral and Cognitive Phenotypes of Patients With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Carrying SOD1 Variants

Author

Eleonora Dalla Bella, Enrica Bersano, Maria Grazia Bruzzone, Cinzia Gellera, Viviana Pensato, Giuseppe Lauria, and Monica Consonni

Subjects
Neurology (clinical), Research Article
Abstract

Background and Objectives:SOD1 variants in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) have been associated to peculiar clinical features and disease progression but rarely to cognitive and behavioural impairment. This study aims at describing the features of frontotemporal syndromes in ALS patients carrying SOD1 variants.Methods:Italian patients with ALS were consecutively enrolled between 2012 and 2020 at our Motor Neuron Disease center. All underwent clinical assessment, extensive neurophysiological test battery for the evaluation of cognitive functions and behavior, and targeted next generation sequencing of SOD1, FUS, TARDBP, VCP, PFN1, TUBA4A, OPTN, SQSTM1, UBQLN2 and C9orf72 genes. Neuropsychological profiles of SOD1+ patients (SOD1+) were compared to those with no gene variants (SOD1-). To this aim, the occurrence of cognitive and behavioral impairment defined according to current guidelines, the number of pathological test performances based on Italian normative values, and scores of the Frontal Behavioural Inventory were collected.Results:Among 288 patients consecutively examined, we identified 8 known pathogenic SOD1 variants and one variant of uncertain significance (p.Ser26Asn) not previously described in 14 ALS patients belonging to 11 families. The clinical phenotypes were mainly characterized by predominant lower motor neuron involvement with onset at the lower limbs, and one patient had bulbar onset. SOD1+ patients (n=14) were compared to SOD1- patients (N = 274). SOD1+ patients were younger than SOD1-, and both groups had similar functional motor disabilities and disease duration. Based on the overall neuropsychological findings, the percentage of SOD1+ and SOD1- patients with altered profiles were about 60%. However, behavioral impairment defined by the Strong criteria, and most commonly featuring with irritability and mental rigidity, was more frequent in SOD1+ than SOD1- patients, and mainly associated with variants in exon 5. Conversely, cognitive impairment was mainly found in SOD1- patients.Discussion:Our findings from a large cohort of deeply phenotyped ALS patients demonstrated that behavioral involvement is more common than previously thought among patients harboring SOD1 variants, and that it is independent from patients’ age and disease stage. These findings could be relevant for the assessment of clinical trial outcomes and disease management.

Published
2022

9. G507D mutation in FUS gene causes familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with a specific genotype-phenotype correlation

Author

Ilaria Martinelli, Elisabetta Zucchi, Viviana Pensato, Cinzia Gellera, Bryan J Traynor, Giulia Gianferrari, Adriano Chiò, and Jessica Mandrioli

Subjects
Slow progression lower motor neuron involvement, Aging, General Neuroscience, Phenotype-genotype correlation, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, FUS, p.G507D mutation, Disease Progression, Genetic Association Studies, Humans, Mutation, RNA-Binding Protein FUS, Neurology (clinical), Geriatrics and Gerontology, Developmental Biology
Abstract

Mutations in FUS gene have been described classically in young ALS patients with aggressive disease course. Here we report a large family carrying a missense mutation c.1520 GA in FUS gene with a tight association with an atypical FUS-ALS phenotype. A 60-year-old man with unilateral leg involvement at onset showed very slow disease progression with selective posterior legs atrophy, tracing his aunt's disease history. His father and uncle died for ALS after a long disease course. Another patient with a 14 years history of ALS with the same phenotype, was found to belong to the same family. In all cases, genetic analysis of FUS gene revealed a missense mutation c.1520 GA (p.G507D) inherited with a heterozygous pattern. Co-segregation of p.G507D mutation and a specific disease phenotype within the family, characterised by predominant involvement at the lower limbs, slow progression, late bulbar and respiratory failure, demonstrates pathogenicity of this mutation, establishes a well-defined genotype-phenotype correlation and expands the clinical spectrum of heterogeneity in FUS-ALS.

Published
2022

10. Missense mutation in ATXN2 gene (c.2860C > T) in an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patient with aggressive disease phenotype

Author

Andrea Ghezzi, Ilaria Martinelli, Serena Carra, Laura Mediani, Elisabetta Zucchi, Cecilia Simonini, Giulia Gianferrari, Nicola Fini, Cristina Cereda, Cinzia Gellera, Viviana Pensato, and Jessica Mandrioli

Subjects
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ATXN2, Disease progression, Missense mutation, Stress granules, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Mutation, Missense, Proteins, Dermatology, General Medicine, Psychiatry and Mental health, Phenotype, Mutation, Humans, Neurology (clinical), Trinucleotide Repeat Expansion, Ataxin-2
Abstract

ALS symptoms have been previously described only in the context of ATXN2 CAG expansions, whereas missense mutations of the gene have never been described in ALS patients.We identified a novel missense mutation (c.2860C T) of ATXN2, for which in silico analysis showed a possible pathogenic effect on protein expression, in a patient presenting an aggressive disease phenotype.Our findings raise the possibility for unknown genetic factors interacting with ATXN2 mutations, or for an autonomous pathogenic role for this specific point mutation in ATXN2 gene in driving the clinical phenotype toward ALS. We also found that stress granules in the fibroblasts from the patient entrapped higher amounts of defective ribosomal products compared to fibroblasts from three healthy subjects, suggesting that ATXN2 mutation-related toxicity may have implication in protein quality control.

Published
2022

11. Optical coherence tomography in adult adrenoleukodystrophy: a cross-sectional and longitudinal study

Author

Viviana Pensato, Chiara Benzoni, L Melzi, Filippo Antonazzo, Eugenia Tomas Roldan, Laura Farina, Stefania Bianchi-Marzoli, Ettore Salsano, Gemma Tremolada, Elena Mauro, Davide Pareyson, Silvia Fenu, and Cinzia Gellera

Subjects
endocrine system, medicine.medical_specialty, genetic structures, Nerve fiber layer, Dermatology, White matter, 03 medical and health sciences, chemistry.chemical_compound, 0302 clinical medicine, Optical coherence tomography, Ophthalmology, medicine, 030212 general & internal medicine, Neuroradiology, medicine.diagnostic_test, business.industry, Leukodystrophy, Retinal, General Medicine, medicine.disease, eye diseases, Ganglion, Psychiatry and Mental health, medicine.anatomical_structure, chemistry, Adrenoleukodystrophy, sense organs, Neurology (clinical), business, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Abstract

Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) encompasses different neurological phenotypes, ranging from the most severe cerebral forms (C-ALD) to the less severe adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN). As visual system can be varyingly involved, we aimed at exploring whether optical coherence tomography (OCT) may detect retinal abnormalities and their longitudinal changes in adult ALD patients. In this cross-sectional and longitudinal study, we measured the thicknesses of peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL), macular ganglion cell complex (mGCC), and segmented inner and outer macula at baseline and their changes over time in 11 symptomatic adult ALD males and 10 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Statistical analyses were performed for the patients as complete group, and splitting them into two subgroups, one (C-ALD) with and the other (AMN) without cerebral parieto-occipital white matter (WM) lesions. In the complete ALD group and in the C-ALD subgroup, the average pRNFL, mGCC, and inner macula were significantly thinner than in controls (p ≤ 0.01), whereas in the AMN subgroup, they were constantly, though non-significantly, thinner. Significant outer macula thinning was also observed (p

Published
2020

12. Dysregulation of Muscle-Specific MicroRNAs as Common Pathogenic Feature Associated with Muscle Atrophy in ALS, SMA and SBMA: Evidence from Animal Models and Human Patients

Author

Angelo Poletti, Viviana Pensato, Monica Nizzardo, Paola Cavalcante, Cinzia Gellera, Mariarita Galbiati, Silvia Bonanno, Michela Taiana, Davide Pareyson, Giuseppe Lauria, Lorenzo Maggi, Franco Salerno, Stefania Corti, Silvia Fenu, Francesca Andreetta, Anna Venerando, Claudia Malacarne, Renato Mantegazza, Eleonora Dalla Bella, Riccardo Masson, Stefania Marcuzzo, Pia Bernasconi, Cinza Cagnoli, Eleonora Giagnorio, Malacarne, C, Galbiati, M, Giagnorio, E, Cavalcante, P, Salerno, F, Andreetta, F, Cagnoli, C, Taiana, M, Nizzardo, M, Corti, S, Pensato, V, Venerando, A, Gellera, C, Fenu, S, Pareyson, D, Masson, R, Maggi, L, Bella, E, Lauria, G, Mantegazza, R, Bernasconi, P, Poletti, A, Bonanno, S, and Marcuzzo, S

Subjects
muscle-specific microRNAs, Pathology, medicine.medical_specialty, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, motor neuron diseases, QH301-705.5, Muscle-specific microRNA, Mutation, Missense, Mice, Transgenic, Bulbo-Spinal Atrophy, X-Linked, Catalysis, Article, Mouse model, Inorganic Chemistry, Pathogenesis, Mice, Superoxide Dismutase-1, Medicine, Animals, Humans, spinal bulbar muscular atrophy, mouse models, Motor neuron disease, Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Biology (General), Molecular Biology, QD1-999, Spectroscopy, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosi, spinal muscular atrophy, business.industry, Superoxide Dismutase, Organic Chemistry, Skeletal muscle, General Medicine, Spinal muscular atrophy, Motor neuron, medicine.disease, SMA, Muscle atrophy, Computer Science Applications, Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy, Chemistry, MicroRNAs, medicine.anatomical_structure, Amino Acid Substitution, medicine.symptom, business
Abstract

Motor neuron diseases (MNDs) are neurodegenerative disorders characterized by upper and/or lower MN loss. MNDs include amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), and spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA). Despite variability in onset, progression, and genetics, they share a common skeletal muscle involvement, suggesting that it could be a primary site for MND pathogenesis. Due to the key role of muscle-specific microRNAs (myomiRs) in skeletal muscle development, by real-time PCR we investigated the expression of miR-206, miR-133a, miR-133b, and miR-1, and their target genes, in G93A-SOD1 ALS, Δ7SMA, and KI-SBMA mouse muscle during disease progression. Further, we analyzed their expression in serum of SOD1-mutated ALS, SMA, and SBMA patients, to demonstrate myomiR role as noninvasive biomarkers. Our data showed a dysregulation of myomiRs and their targets, in ALS, SMA, and SBMA mice, revealing a common pathogenic feature associated with muscle impairment. A similar myomiR signature was observed in patients’ sera. In particular, an up-regulation of miR-206 was identified in both mouse muscle and serum of human patients. Our overall findings highlight the role of myomiRs as promising biomarkers in ALS, SMA, and SBMA. Further investigations are needed to explore the potential of myomiRs as therapeutic targets for MND treatment.

Published
2021

13. Asymptomatic adrenoleukodystrophy in elderly males

Author

Ettore Salsano, Davide Pareyson, Chiara Benzoni, Cinzia Gellera, Silvia Fenu, Elena Mauro, and Viviana Pensato

Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty, Pediatrics, Neurology, business.industry, ATP-binding cassette transporter, medicine.disease, Asymptomatic, Medicine, Adrenoleukodystrophy, Neurology (clinical), medicine.symptom, business, Neuroradiology
Published
2020

14. Pain Study in X-Linked Adrenoleukodystrophy in Males and Females

Author

Ilaria Ceccarelli, Gabriele Cevenini, Viviana Pensato, Carla Bizzarri, Marco Cappa, Anna Petroni, Anna Maria Aloisi, Ettore Salsano, and Valeria Bachiocco

Subjects
Nervous system, medicine.medical_specialty, business.industry, Pain medicine, Metabolic disorder, Chronic pain, Pain, Sensory system, Disease, medicine.disease, QST, ALD, Sex differences, Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, medicine.anatomical_structure, Endocrinology, Internal medicine, X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy, medicine, Adrenoleukodystrophy, Neurology (clinical), business
Abstract

X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) is a metabolic disorder in which very long chain fatty acids (VLCFAs) are accumulated in the nervous system and adrenal cortex, impairing their functions. Three main variants are described in males: adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN), a cerebral form (cALD or cAMN) and Addison's disease only (AD), while for females no classification is used. To evaluate pain and the functional state of afferent fibers, a series of tests was carried out in male and female patients. Chronic pain occurrence and sensory phenotype profile were assessed in 30 patients (20 male: 10 AMN, 1 cAMN, 1 cALD, 8 AD; and 10 female). A set of instruments assessed the intensity, quality and extent of pain, while a battery of quantitative sensory testing (QST) procedures examined the functional status of Aβ and Aδ fibers. Principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering with sensory responses input were used to identify distinct clusters. Nearly half of the subjects reported pain, with a high prevalence in females and male AMN patients. No sex differences in pain dimensions were found. The sensory responses were heterogeneous, differing among the clinical variants and between genders. Male AMN/cAMN/cALD patients showed the worst impairment. Aβ and Aδ fibers were affected in males and females, but Aβ fibers appeared undamaged in females when tactile sensitivity was tested. Abnormal responses were localized in the lower body district, according to the dying-back pattern of the neuropathy. Cluster analysis showed discrete clusters for each function examined, with well-interpretable sensory and clinical phenotypes. The study of pain and of the sensory profile appears to indicate a difference in the mechanisms underlying the AMN/cAMN/cALD and AD clinical forms and in the treatment of the respective generated pain types.

Published
2020

15. Pathogenic huntingtin repeat expansions in patients with frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Author

Ramita Dewan, Ruth Chia, Jinhui Ding, Richard A. Hickman, Thor D. Stein, Yevgeniya Abramzon, Sarah Ahmed, Marya S. Sabir, Makayla K. Portley, Arianna Tucci, Kristina Ibáñez, F.N.U. Shankaracharya, Pamela Keagle, Giacomina Rossi, Paola Caroppo, Fabrizio Tagliavini, Maria L. Waldo, Per M. Johansson, Christer F. Nilsson, James B. Rowe, Luisa Benussi, Giuliano Binetti, Roberta Ghidoni, Edwin Jabbari, Coralie Viollet, Jonathan D. Glass, Andrew B. Singleton, Vincenzo Silani, Owen A. Ross, Mina Ryten, Ali Torkamani, Toshiko Tanaka, Luigi Ferrucci, Susan M. Resnick, Stuart Pickering-Brown, Christopher B. Brady, Neil Kowal, John A. Hardy, Vivianna Van Deerlin, Jean Paul Vonsattel, Matthew B. Harms, Huw R. Morris, Raffaele Ferrari, John E. Landers, Adriano Chiò, J. Raphael Gibbs, Clifton L. Dalgard, Sonja W. Scholz, Bryan J. Traynor, Adelani Adeleye, Camille Alba, Dagmar Bacikova, Daniel N. Hupalo, Elisa McGrath Martinez, Harvey B. Pollard, Gauthaman Sukumar, Anthony R. Soltis, Meila Tuck, Xijun Zhang, Matthew D. Wilkerson, Bradley N. Smith, Nicola Ticozzi, Claudia Fallini, Athina Soragia Gkazi, Simon D. Topp, Jason Kost, Emma L. Scotter, Kevin P. Kenna, Jack W. Miller, Cinzia Tiloca, Caroline Vance, Eric W. Danielson, Claire Troakes, Claudia Colombrita, Safa Al-Sarraj, Elizabeth A. Lewis, Andrew King, Daniela Calini, Viviana Pensato, Barbara Castellotti, Jacqueline de Belleroche, Frank Baas, Anneloor L.M.A. ten Asbroek, Peter C. Sapp, Diane McKenna-Yasek, Russell L. McLaughlin, Meraida Polak, Seneshaw Asress, Jesús Esteban-Pérez, José Luis Muñoz-Blanco, Zorica Stevic, Sandra D’Alfonso, Letizia Mazzini, Giacomo P. Comi, Roberto Del Bo, Mauro Ceroni, Stella Gagliardi, Giorgia Querin, Cinzia Bertolin, Wouter van Rheenen, Frank P. Diekstra, Rosa Rademakers, Marka van Blitterswijk, Kevin B. Boylan, Giuseppe Lauria, Stefano Duga, Stefania Corti, Cristina Cereda, Lucia Corrado, Gianni Sorarù, Kelly L. Williams, Garth A. Nicholson, Ian P. Blair, Claire Leblond-Manry, Guy A. Rouleau, Orla Hardiman, Karen E. Morrison, Jan H. Veldink, Leonard H. van den Berg, Ammar Al-Chalabi, Hardev Pall, Pamela J. Shaw, Martin R. Turner, Kevin Talbot, Franco Taroni, Alberto García-Redondo, Zheyang Wu, Cinzia Gellera, Antonia Ratti, Robert H. Brown, Christopher E. Shaw, John C. Ambrose, Prabhu Arumugam, Emma L. Baple, Marta Bleda, Freya Boardman-Pretty, Jeanne M. Boissiere, Christopher R. Boustred, H. Brittain, Mark J. Caulfield, Georgia C. Chan, Clare E.H. Craig, Louise C. Daugherty, Anna de Burca, Andrew Devereau, Greg Elgar, Rebecca E. Foulger, Tom Fowler, Pedro Furió-Tarí, Joanne M. Hackett, Dina Halai, Angela Hamblin, Shirley Henderson, James E. Holman, Tim J.P. Hubbard, Rob Jackson, Louise J. Jones, Dalia Kasperaviciute, Melis Kayikci, Lea Lahnstein, Kay Lawson, Sarah E.A. Leigh, Ivonne U.S. Leong, Javier F. Lopez, Fiona Maleady-Crowe, Joanne Mason, Ellen M. McDonagh, Loukas Moutsianas, Michael Mueller, Nirupa Murugaesu, Anna C. Need, Chris A. Odhams, Christine Patch, Daniel Perez-Gil, Dimitris Polychronopoulos, John Pullinger, Tahrima Rahim, Augusto Rendon, Pablo Riesgo-Ferreiro, Tim Rogers, Kevin Savage, Kushmita Sawant, Richard H. Scott, Afshan Siddiq, Alexander Sieghart, Damian Smedley, Katherine R. Smith, Alona Sosinsky, William Spooner, Helen E. Stevens, Alexander Stuckey, Razvan Sultana, Ellen R.A. Thomas, Simon R. Thompson, Carolyn Tregidgo, Emma Walsh, Sarah A. Watters, Matthew J. Welland, Eleanor Williams, Katarzyna Witkowska, Suzanne M. Wood, Magdalena Zarowiecki, Sampath Arepalli, Pavan Auluck, Robert H. Baloh, Robert Bowser, Alexis Brice, James Broach, William Camu, John Cooper-Knock, Philippe Corcia, Carsten Drepper, Vivian E. Drory, Travis L. Dunckley, Faraz Faghri, Jennifer Farren, Eva Feldman, Mary Kay Floeter, Pietro Fratta, Glenn Gerhard, Summer B. Gibson, Stephen A. Goutman, Terry D. Heiman-Patterson, Dena G. Hernandez, Ben Hoover, Lilja Jansson, Freya Kamel, Janine Kirby, Neil W. Kowall, Hannu Laaksovirta, Francesco Landi, Isabelle Le Ber, Serge Lumbroso, Daniel JL. MacGowan, Nicholas J. Maragakis, Gabriele Mora, Kevin Mouzat, Liisa Myllykangas, Mike A. Nalls, Richard W. Orrell, Lyle W. Ostrow, Roger Pamphlett, Erik Pioro, Stefan M. Pulst, John M. Ravits, Alan E. Renton, Wim Robberecht, Ian Robey, Ekaterina Rogaeva, Jeffrey D. Rothstein, Michael Sendtner, Katie C. Sidle, Zachary Simmons, David J. Stone, Pentti J. Tienari, John Q. Trojanowski, Juan C. Troncoso, Miko Valori, Philip Van Damme, Ludo Van Den Bosch, Lorne Zinman, Diego Albani, Barbara Borroni, Alessandro Padovani, Amalia Bruni, Jordi Clarimon, Oriol Dols-Icardo, Ignacio Illán-Gala, Alberto Lleó, Adrian Danek, Daniela Galimberti, Elio Scarpini, Maria Serpente, Caroline Graff, Huei-Hsin Chiang, Behzad Khoshnood, Linn Öijerstedt, Christopher M. Morris, Benedetta Nacmias, Sandro Sorbi, Jorgen E. Nielsen, Lynne E. Hjermind, Valeria Novelli, Annibale A. Puca, Pau Pastor, Ignacio Alvarez, Monica Diez-Fairen, Miquel Aguilar, Robert Perneczky, Janine Diehl-Schimd, Mina Rossi, Agustin Ruiz, Mercè Boada, Isabel Hernández, Sonia Moreno-Grau, Johannes C. Schlachetzki, Dag Aarsland, Marilyn S. Albert, Johannes Attems, Matthew J. Barrett, Thomas G. Beach, Lynn M. Bekris, David A. Bennett, Lilah M. Besser, Eileen H. Bigio, Sandra E. Black, Bradley F. Boeve, Ryan C. Bohannan, Francesca Brett, Maura Brunetti, Chad A. Caraway, Jose-Alberto Palma, Andrea Calvo, Antonio Canosa, Dennis Dickson, Charles Duyckaerts, Kelley Faber, Tanis Ferman, Margaret E. Flanagan, Gianluca Floris, Tatiana M. Foroud, Juan Fortea, Ziv Gan-Or, Steve Gentleman, Bernardino Ghetti, Jesse Raphael Gibbs, Alison Goate, David Goldstein, Isabel González-Aramburu, Neill R. Graff-Radford, Angela K. Hodges, Heng-Chen Hu, Daniel Hupalo, Jon Infante, Alex Iranzo, Scott M. Kaiser, Horacio Kaufmann, Julia Keith, Ronald C. Kim, Gregory Klein, Rejko Krüger, Walter Kukull, Amanda Kuzma, Carmen Lage, Suzanne Lesage, James B. Leverenz, Giancarlo Logroscino, Grisel Lopez, Seth Love, Qinwen Mao, Maria Jose Marti, Elisa Martinez-McGrath, Mario Masellis, Eliezer Masliah, Patrick May, Ian McKeith, Marek-Marsel Mesulam, Edwin S. Monuki, Kathy L. Newell, Lucy Norcliffe-Kaufmann, Laura Palmer, Matthew Perkins, Olga Pletnikova, Laura Molina-Porcel, Regina H. Reynolds, Eloy Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Jonathan D. Rohrer, Pascual Sanchez-Juan, Clemens R. Scherzer, Geidy E. Serrano, Vikram Shakkottai, Ellen Sidransky, Nahid Tayebi, Alan J. Thomas, Bension S. Tilley, Ronald L. Walton, Randy Woltjer, Zbigniew K. Wszolek, Georgia Xiromerisiou, Chiara Zecca, Hemali Phatnani, Justin Kwan, Dhruv Sareen, James R. Broach, Ximena Arcila-Londono, Edward B. Lee, Neil A. Shneider, Ernest Fraenkel, Noah Zaitlen, James D. Berry, Andrea Malaspina, Gregory A. Cox, Leslie M. Thompson, Steve Finkbeiner, Efthimios Dardiotis, Timothy M. Miller, Siddharthan Chandran, Suvankar Pal, Eran Hornstein, Daniel J. MacGowan, Terry Heiman-Patterson, Molly G. Hammell, Nikolaos.A. Patsopoulos, Oleg Butovsky, Joshua Dubnau, Avindra Nath, Matt Harms, Eleonora Aronica, Mary Poss, Jennifer Phillips-Cremins, John Crary, Nazem Atassi, Dale J. Lange, Darius J. Adams, Leonidas Stefanis, Marc Gotkine, Suma Babu, Towfique Raj, Sabrina Paganoni, Ophir Shalem, Colin Smith, Bin Zhang, Brent Harris, Iris Broce, Vivian Drory, John Ravits, Corey McMillan, Vilas Menon, Lani Wu, Steven Altschuler, Khaled Amar, Neil Archibald, Oliver Bandmann, Erica Capps, Alistair Church, Jan Coebergh, Alyssa Costantini, Peter Critchley, Boyd CP. Ghosh, Michele T.M. Hu, Christopher Kobylecki, P. Nigel Leigh, Carl Mann, Luke A. Massey, Uma Nath, Nicola Pavese, Dominic Paviour, Jagdish Sharma, Jenny Vaughan, HUS Neurocenter, Neurologian yksikkö, Department of Neurosciences, Clinicum, Pentti Tienari / Principal Investigator, Parkinson's UK, Human Genetics, ARD - Amsterdam Reproduction and Development, ANS - Complex Trait Genetics, Pathology, ANS - Cellular & Molecular Mechanisms, AII - Inflammatory diseases, Universidad de Cantabria, Rowe, James [0000-0001-7216-8679], and Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository

Subjects
0301 basic medicine, Huntington's Disease, Pathology, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Huntingtin, Neurology, 1702 Cognitive Sciences, International ALS/FTD Genomics Consortium, Neurodegenerative, frontotemporal dementia, 3124 Neurology and psychiatry, 0302 clinical medicine, Medicine, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors, Psychology, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Aetiology, Alzheimer's Disease Related Dementias (ADRD), NYGC ALS Consortium, Huntingtin Protein, DNA Repeat Expansion, General Neuroscience, Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), International FTD Genetics Consortium, whole-genome sequencing, Frontotemporal Dementia, Neurological, Cognitive Sciences, Lewy body dementia, huntingtin, repeat expansions, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Humans, Mutation, Whole Genome Sequencing, Frontotemporal dementia, Huntington’s disease, medicine.medical_specialty, congenital, hereditary, and neonatal diseases and abnormalities, FALS Sequencing Consortium, Article, 03 medical and health sciences, Atrophy, Rare Diseases, American Genome Center, Clinical Research, mental disorders, Genetics, Acquired Cognitive Impairment, Dementia, PROSPECT Consortium, Neurology & Neurosurgery, Lewy body, business.industry, International LBD Genomics Consortium, Neurosciences, 3112 Neurosciences, Alzheimer's Disease including Alzheimer's Disease Related Dementias (AD/ADRD), nutritional and metabolic diseases, medicine.disease, Brain Disorders, nervous system diseases, 030104 developmental biology, Genomics England Research Consortium, 1701 Psychology, ALS, business, 1109 Neurosciences, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Abstract

Hannu Laaksovirta konsortion jäsenenä. The Genomics England Research Consortium, The International ALS/FTD Genomics Consortium (iAFGC), The International FTD Genetics Consortium (IFGC), The International LBD Genomics Consortium (iLBDGC), The NYGC ALS Consortium, The PROSPECT Consortium,17 James B. Rowe,17 Luisa Benussi,18 Giuliano Binetti,18,19 Roberta Ghidoni,18 Edwin Jabbari,20,21 Coralie Viollet,22 Jonathan D. Glass,23 Andrew B. Singleton,24 Vincenzo Silani,25,26 Owen A. Ross,27 Mina Ryten,8,28,29 Ali Torkamani,30 Toshiko Tanaka,31 Luigi Ferrucci,31 Susan M. Resnick,32 We examined the role of repeat expansions in the pathogenesis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by analyzing whole-genome sequence data from 2,442 FTD/ALS patients, 2,599 Lewy body dementia (LBD) patients, and 3,158 neurologically healthy subjects. Pathogenic expansions (range, 40?64 CAG repeats) in the huntingtin (HTT) gene were found in three (0.12%) patients diagnosed with pure FTD/ALS syndromes but were not present in the LBD or healthy cohorts. We replicated our findings in an independent collection of 3,674 FTD/ALS patients. Postmortem evaluations of two patients revealed the classical TDP-43 pathology of FTD/ALS, as well as huntingtin-positive, ubiquitin-positive aggregates in the frontal cortex. The neostriatal atrophy that pathologically defines Huntington?s disease was absent in both cases. Our findings reveal an etiological relationship between HTT repeat expansions and FTD/ALS syndromes and indicate that genetic screening of FTD/ALS patients for HTT repeat expansions should be considered. We examined the role of repeat expansions in the pathogenesis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by analyzing whole-genome sequence data from 2,442 FTD/ALS patients, 2,599 Lewy body dementia (LBD) patients, and 3,158 neurologically healthy subjects. Pathogenic expansions (range, 40?64 CAG repeats) in the huntingtin (HTT) gene were found in three (0.12%) patients diagnosed with pure FTD/ALS syndromes but were not present in the LBD or healthy cohorts. We replicated our findings in an independent collection of 3,674 FTD/ALS patients. Postmortem evaluations of two patients revealed the classical TDP-43 pathology of FTD/ALS, as well as huntingtin-positive, ubiquitin-positive aggregates in the frontal cortex. The neostriatal atrophy that pathologically defines Huntington?s disease was absent in both cases. Our findings reveal an etiological relationship between HTT repeat expansions and FTD/ALS syndromes and indicate that genetic screening of FTD/ALS patients for HTT repeat expansions should be considered.

Published
2020

16. A genome-wide association meta-analysis identifies a novel locus at 17q11.2 associated with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Author

Fogh, Isabella, Ratti, Antonia, Gellera, Cinzia, Lin, Kuang, Tiloca, Cinzia, Moskvina, Valentina, Corrado, Lucia, Sorarù, Gianni, Cereda, Cristina, Corti, Stefania, Gentilini, Davide, Calini, Daniela, Castellotti, Barbara, Mazzini, Letizia, Querin, Giorgia, Gagliardi, Stella, Del Bo, Roberto, Conforti, Francesca L., Siciliano, Gabriele, Inghilleri, Maurizio, Saccà, Francesco, Bongioanni, Paolo, Penco, Silvana, Corbo, Massimo, Sorbi, Sandro, Filosto, Massimiliano, Ferlini, Alessandra, Di Blasio, Anna M., Signorini, Stefano, Shatunov, Aleksey, Jones, Ashley, Shaw, Pamela J., Morrison, Karen E., Farmer, Anne E., Van Damme, Philip, Robberecht, Wim, Chiò, Adriano, Traynor, Bryan J., Sendtner, Michael, Melki, Judith, Meininger, Vincent, Hardiman, Orla, Andersen, Peter M., Leigh, Nigel P., Glass, Jonathan D., Overste, Daniel, Diekstra, Frank P., Veldink, Jan H., van Es, Michael A., Shaw, Christopher E., Weale, Michael E., Lewis, Cathryn M., Williams, Julie, Brown, Robert H., Landers, John E., Ticozzi, Nicola, Ceroni, Mauro, Pegoraro, Elena, Comi, Giacomo P., DʼAlfonso, Sandra, van den Berg, Leonard H., Taroni, Franco, Al-Chalabi, Ammar, Powell, John, Silani, Vincenzo, Brescia Morra, Vincenzo, Filla, Alessandro, Massimo, Filosto, Marsili, Angela, Viviana, Pensato, Puorro, Giorgia, La Bella, Vincenzo, Logroscino, Giancarlo, Monsurrò, Maria Rosaria, Quattrone, Aldo, Simone, Isabella Laura, Ahmeti, Kreshnik B., Ajroud-Driss, Senda, Armstrong, Jennifer, Birve, Anne, Blauw, Hylke M., Bruijn, Lucie, Chen, Wenjie, Comeau, Mary C., Cronin, Simon, Soraya, Gkazi Athina, Grab, Josh D., Groen, Ewout J., Haines, Jonathan L., Heller, Scott, Huang, Jie, Hung, Wu-Yen, Jaworski, James M., Khan, Humaira, Langefeld, Carl D., Marion, Miranda C., McLaughlin, Russell L., Miller, Jack W., Mora, Gabriele, Pericak-Vance, Margaret A., Rampersaud, Evadnie, Siddique, Nailah, Siddique, Teepu, Smith, Bradley N., Sufit, Robert, Topp, Simon, Vance, Caroline, van Vught, Paul, Yang, Yi, and Zheng, J.G.

Published
2014
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17. Analysis of shared common genetic risk between amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and epilepsy

Author

Schijven, D., Stevelink, R., Mccormack, M., van Rheenen, W., Luykx, J. J., Koeleman, B. P. C., Veldink, J. H., Aleksey, Shatunov, Mclaughlin, Russell L., van der Spek, Rick A. A., Alfredo, Iacoangeli, Kenna, Kevin P., van Eijk, Kristel R., Nicola, Ticozzi, Boris, Rogelj, Katarina, Vrabec, Metka, Ravnik-Glavač, Blaž, Koritnik, Janez, Zidar, Lea, Leonardis, Leja Dolenc Grošelj, Stéphanie, Millecamps, François, Salachas, Vincent, Meininger, Mamede de Carvalho, Susana, Pinto, Marta, Gromicho, Ana, Pronto-Laborinho, Mora, Jesus S., Ricardo, Rojas-García, Meraida, Polak, Siddharthan, Chandran, Shuna, Colville, Robert, Swingler, Morrison, Karen E., Shaw, Pamela J., John, Hardy, Orrell, Richard W., Alan, Pittman, Katie, Sidle, Pietro, Fratta, Andrea, Malaspina, Simon, Topp, Susanne, Petri, Susanna, Abdulla, Carsten, Drepper, Michael, Sendtner, Thomas, Meyer, Ophoff, Roel A., Staats, Kim A., Martina, Wiedau-Pazos, Catherine, Lomen-Hoerth, Van Deerlin, Vivianna M., Trojanowski, John Q., Lauren, Elman, Leo, Mccluskey, Nazli Basak, A., Thomas, Meitinger, Peter, Lichtner, Milena, Blagojevic-Radivojkov, Andres, Christian R., Gilbert, Bensimon, Bernhard, Landwehrmeyer, Alexis, Brice, Payan, Christine A. M., Safaa, Saker-Delye, Alexandra, Dürr, Wood, Nicholas W., Lukas, Tittmann, Wolfgang, Lieb, Andre, Franke, Marcella, Rietschel, Sven, Cichon, Nöthen, Markus M., Philippe, Amouyel, Christophe, Tzourio, Jean-François, Dartigues, Uitterlinden, Andre G., Fernando, Rivadeneira, Karol, Estrada, Albert, Hofman, Charles, Curtis, van der Kooi, Anneke J., Markus, Weber, Shaw, Christopher E., Smith, Bradley N., Daisy, Sproviero, Cristina, Cereda, Mauro, Ceroni, Luca, Diamanti, Roberto Del Bo, Stefania, Corti, Comi, Giacomo P., Sandra, D'Alfonso, Lucia, Corrado, Bertolin, Cinzia, Soraru', Gianni, Letizia, Mazzini, Viviana, Pensato, Cinzia, Gellera, Cinzia, Tiloca, Antonia, Ratti, Andrea, Calvo, Cristina, Moglia, Maura, Brunetti, Simona, Arcuti, Rosa, Capozzo, Chiara, Zecca, Christian, Lunetta, Silvana, Penco, Nilo, Riva, Alessandro, Padovani, Massimiliano, Filosto, Ian, Blair, Nicholson, Garth A., Rowe, Dominic B., Roger, Pamphlett, Kiernan, Matthew C., Julian, Grosskreutz, Witte, Otto W., Robert, Steinbach, Tino, Prell, Beatrice, Stubendorff, Ingo, Kurth, Hübner, Christian A., Nigel Leigh, P., Federico, Casale, Adriano, Chio, Ettore, Beghi, Elisabetta, Pupillo, Rosanna, Tortelli, Giancarlo, Logroscino, John, Powell, Ludolph, Albert C., Weishaupt, Jochen H., Wim, Robberecht, Philip Van Damme, Brown, Robert H., Glass, Jonathan D., Landers, John E., Orla, Hardiman, Andersen, Peter M., Philippe, Corcia, Patrick, Vourc'H, Vincenzo, Silani, van Es, Michael A., Jeroen Pasterkamp, R., Lewis, Cathryn M., Gerome, Breen, Ammar, Al-Chalabi, van den Berg, Leonard H., Veldink, Jan H., Daniela, Calini, Isabella, Fogh, Barbara, Castellotti, Franco, Taroni, Stella, Gagliardi, Giacomo, Comi, Sandra, D’Alfonso, Pegoraro, Elena, Giorgia, Querin, Francesca, Gerardi, Fabrizio, Rinaldi, Maria Sofia Cotelli, Luca, Chiveri, Maria Cristina Guaita, Patrizia, Perrone, Giancarlo, Comi, Carlo, Ferrarese, Lucio, Tremolizzo, Marialuisa, Delodovici, Giorgio, Bono, Stefania, Cammarosano, Antonio, Canosa, Dario, Cocito, Leonardo, Lopiano, Luca, Durelli, Bruno, Ferrero, Antonio, Bertolotto, Alessandro, Mauro, Luca, Pradotto, Roberto, Cantello, Enrica, Bersano, Dario, Giobbe, Maurizio, Gionco, Daniela, Leotta, Lucia, Appendino, Cavallo, Cavallo, Enrico, Odddenino, Claudio, Geda, Fabio, Poglio, Paola, Santimaria, Umberto, Massazza, Antonio, Villani, Roberto, Conti, Fabrizio, Pisano, Mario, Palermo, Franco, Vergnano, Paolo, Provera, Maria Teresa Penza, Marco, Aguggia, Nicoletta Di Vito, Piero, Meineri, Ilaria, Pastore, Paolo, Ghiglione, Danilo, Seliak, Nicola, Launaro, Giovanni, Astegiano, Bottacchi, Edo, Isabella Laura Simone, Stefano, Zoccolella, Michele, Zarrelli, Franco, Apollo, William, Camu, Jean Sebastien Hulot, Francois, Viallet, Philippe, Couratier, David, Maltete, Christine, Tranchant, Marie, Vidailhet, Bassel, Abou-Khalil, Pauls, Auce, Andreja, Avbersek, Melanie, Bahlo, David, J Balding, Thomas, Bast, Larry, Baum, Albert, J Becker, Felicitas, Becker, Bianca, Berghuis, Samuel, F Berkovic, Katja, E Boysen, Jonathan, P Bradfield, Lawrence, C Brody, Russell, J Buono, Ellen, Campbell, Gregory, D Cascino, Claudia, B Catarino, Gianpiero, L Cavalleri, Stacey, S Cherny, Krishna, Chinthapalli, Alison, J Coffey, Alastair, Compston, Antonietta, Coppola, Patrick, Cossette, John, J Craig, Gerrit-Jan de Haan, Peter De Jonghe, Carolien G, F de Kovel, Norman, Delanty, Chantal, Depondt, Orrin, Devinsky, Dennis, J Dlugos, Colin, P Doherty, Christian, E Elger, Johan, G Eriksson, Thomas, N Ferraro, Martha, Feucht, Ben, Francis, Jacqueline, A French, Saskia, Freytag, Verena, Gaus, Eric, B Geller, Christian, Gieger, Tracy, Glauser, Simon, Glynn, David, B Goldstein, Hongsheng, Gui, Youling, Guo, Kevin, F Haas, Hakon, Hakonarson, Kerstin, Hallmann, Sheryl, Haut, Erin, L Heinzen, Ingo, Helbig, Christian, Hengsbach, Helle, Hjalgrim, Michele, Iacomino, Andrés, Ingason, Michael, R Johnson, Reetta, Kälviäinen, Anne-Mari, Kantanen, Dalia, Kasperavičiūte, Dorothee Kasteleijn-Nolst Trenite, Heidi, E Kirsch, Robert, C Knowlton, Bobby P, C Koeleman, Roland, Krause, Martin, Krenn, Wolfram, S Kunz, Ruben, Kuzniecky, Patrick, Kwan, Dennis, Lal, Yu-Lung, Lau, Anna-Elina, Lehesjoki, Holger, Lerche, Costin, Leu, Dick, Lindhout, Warren, D Lo, Iscia, Lopes-Cendes, Daniel, H Lowenstein, Alberto, Malovini, Anthony, G Marson, Thomas, Mayer, Mark, Mccormack, James, L Mills, Nasir, Mirza, Martina, Moerzinger, Rikke, S Møller, Anne, M Molloy, Hiltrud, Muhle, Mark, Newton, Ping-Wing, Ng, Markus, M Nöthen, Peter, Nürnberg, Terence, J O’Brien, Karen, L Oliver, Aarno, Palotie, Faith, Pangilinan, Sarah, Peter, Slavé, Petrovski, Annapurna, Poduri, Michael, Privitera, Rodney, Radtke, Sarah, Rau, Philipp, S Reif, Eva, M Reinthaler, Felix, Rosenow, Josemir, W Sander, Thomas, Sander, Theresa, Scattergood, Steven, C Schachter, Christoph, J Schankin, Ingrid, E Scheffer, Bettina, Schmitz, Susanne, Schoch, Pak, C Sham, Jerry, J Shih, Graeme, J Sills, Sanjay, M Sisodiya, Lisa, Slattery, Alexander, Smith, David, F Smith, Michael, C Smith, Philip, E Smith, Anja C, M Sonsma, Doug, Speed, Michael, R Sperling, Bernhard, J Steinhoff, Ulrich, Stephani, Remi, Stevelink, Konstantin, Strauch, Pasquale, Striano, Hans, Stroink, Rainer, Surges, K Meng Tan, Liu Lin Thio, G Neil Thomas, Marian, Todaro, Rossana, Tozzi, Maria, S Vari, Eileen P, G Vining, Frank, Visscher, Sarah von Spiczak, Nicole, M Walley, Yvonne, G Weber, Zhi, Wei, Judith, Weisenberg, Christopher, D Whelan, Peter, Widdess-Walsh, Markus, Wolff, Stefan, Wolking, Wanling, Yang, Federico, Zara, Fritz, Zimprich, Project MinE ALS GWAS Consortium, International League Against Epilepsy Consortium on Complex Epilepsies, Department of Medical and Clinical Genetics, Centre of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics, Aarno Palotie / Principal Investigator, Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Genomics of Neurological and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Clinicum, Johan Eriksson / Principal Investigator, Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, and HUS Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District

Subjects
Risk, 0301 basic medicine, Aging, Genetic correlation, Geriatrics & Gerontology, education, Genome-wide association study, Biology, ALS, Epilepsy, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Gene Frequency, Humans, Genetic Variation, Genome-Wide Association Study, Negative Results, Article, 3124 Neurology and psychiatry, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Genetic variation, medicine, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Allele frequency, Genetics, Science & Technology, Mechanism (biology), General Neuroscience, 3112 Neurosciences, Neurosciences, medicine.disease, 3. Good health, Minor allele frequency, 030104 developmental biology, Neurology (clinical), Neurosciences & Neurology, Geriatrics and Gerontology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, Developmental Biology
Abstract

Because hyper-excitability has been shown to be a shared pathophysiological mechanism, we used the latest and largest genome-wide studies in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (n = 36,052) and epilepsy (n = 38,349) to determine genetic overlap between these conditions. First, we showed no significant genetic correlation, also when binned on minor allele frequency. Second, we confirmed the absence of polygenic overlap using genomic risk score analysis. Finally, we did not identify pleiotropic variants in meta-analyses of the 2 diseases. Our findings indicate that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and epilepsy do not share common genetic risk, showing that hyper-excitability in both disorders has distinct origins. ispartof: NEUROBIOLOGY OF AGING vol:92 ispartof: location:United States status: published

Published
2020

18. Optical coherence tomography in adult adrenoleukodystrophy: a cross-sectional and longitudinal study

Author

Stefania, Bianchi-Marzoli, Silvia, Fenu, Lisa, Melzi, Chiara, Benzoni, Filippo, Antonazzo, Eugenia, Tomas Roldan, Laura, Farina, Gemma, Tremolada, Elena, Mauro, Viviana, Pensato, Cinzia, Gellera, Davide, Pareyson, and Ettore, Salsano

Subjects
Adult, Male, Retinal Ganglion Cells, Cross-Sectional Studies, Nerve Fibers, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Adrenoleukodystrophy, Tomography, Optical Coherence
Abstract

Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) encompasses different neurological phenotypes, ranging from the most severe cerebral forms (C-ALD) to the less severe adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN). As visual system can be varyingly involved, we aimed at exploring whether optical coherence tomography (OCT) may detect retinal abnormalities and their longitudinal changes in adult ALD patients.In this cross-sectional and longitudinal study, we measured the thicknesses of peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL), macular ganglion cell complex (mGCC), and segmented inner and outer macula at baseline and their changes over time in 11 symptomatic adult ALD males and 10 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Statistical analyses were performed for the patients as complete group, and splitting them into two subgroups, one (C-ALD) with and the other (AMN) without cerebral parieto-occipital white matter (WM) lesions.In the complete ALD group and in the C-ALD subgroup, the average pRNFL, mGCC, and inner macula were significantly thinner than in controls (p ≤ 0.01), whereas in the AMN subgroup, they were constantly, though non-significantly, thinner. Significant outer macula thinning was also observed (p 0.01). In the complete ALD group, follow-up assessment (mean 26.8 months, range 8-48) showed mildly progressive thinning of inferior pRNFL, average mGCC, and inner macula.In adult ALD patients, OCT can reveal retinal abnormalities which are prominent in the more compromised patients, namely those with parieto-occipital WM lesions. The inferior pRNFL, average mGCC and inner macula thicknesses might be sensitive-to-change OCT parameters, but their utility and consistency for short-term longitudinal studies deserve further investigations.

Published
2020

19. Sorting Rare ALS Genetic Variants by Targeted Re-Sequencing Panel in Italian Patients: OPTN, VCP, and SQSTM1 Variants Account for 3% of Rare Genetic Forms

Author

Franco Taroni, Viviana Pensato, Pierpaola Tannorella, Marta Gatti, Caterina Mariotti, Eleonora Dalla Bella, Stefania Magri, Giuseppe Lauria, Cinzia Gellera, Enrica Bersano, Nicola Ticozzi, and Gianni Sorarù

Subjects
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, lcsh:Medicine, Disease, TARDBP, DNA sequencing, Article, genetic heterogeneity, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, gene panel, C9orf72, Medicine, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Gene, 030304 developmental biology, Genetics, next generation sequencing, 0303 health sciences, Genetic heterogeneity, business.industry, lcsh:R, mutation screening, General Medicine, medicine.disease, business, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, Frontotemporal dementia
Abstract

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an adult-onset progressive neurodegenerative disease due to motor neuron loss variably associated with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Next generation sequencing technology revealed an increasing number of rare and novel genetic variants and interpretation of their pathogenicity represents a major challange in the diagnosis of ALS. We selected 213 consecutive patients with sporadic or familial (16%) ALS, tested negative for SOD1, FUS, TARDBP, and C9orf72 mutations. To reveal rare forms of genetic ALS, we performed a comprehensive multi-gene panel screening including 46 genes associated with ALS, hereditary motor neuronopathies, spastic paraplegia, and FTD. Our study allowed the identification of pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants in 4.2% of patients. The genes with the highest percentage of pathogenic variants were OPTN (1%), VCP (1%) SQSTM1(1%), SETX (0.4%), FIG4 (0.4%), and GARS1 (0.4%) genes. We also found 49 novel or rare gene variants of unknown significance in 30 patients (14%), 44 unlikely pathogenic variants (39%), and 48 variants in ALS susceptibility genes. The results of our study suggest the screening of OPTN, VCP, and SQSTM1 genes in routine diagnostic investigations for both sporadic and familial cases, and confirm the importance of diagnosis and couselling for patients and their relative family members.

Published
2020

20. The first case of the

Author

Lucia, Corrado, Viviana, Pensato, Roberta, Croce, Alice, Di Pierro, Simona, Mellone, Eleonora, Dalla Bella, Ettore, Salsano, Elvezia Maria, Paraboschi, Mara, Giordano, Massimo, Saraceno, Letizia, Mazzini, Cinzia, Gellera, and Sandra, D'Alfonso

Subjects
Adult, DNA-Binding Proteins, Male, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Homozygote, Mutation, Humans, Alleles, Pedigree
Abstract

Here, we described the first amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patient presenting the c.881 G T p.G294V

Published
2019

21. Leukoencephalopathy With Predominant Infratentorial Involvement Caused by a Novel ABCD1 Mutation: Does the Spinocerebellar Variant of Adrenoleukodystrophy Exist?

Author

Ettore Salsano, Elena Mauro, Laura Farina, Giorgio Marotta, Chiara Benzoni, Altin Kuqo, Davide Pareyson, and Viviana Pensato

Subjects
Adult, Male, congenital, hereditary, and neonatal diseases and abnormalities, Pathology, medicine.medical_specialty, Cerebellum, Nystagmus, 030204 cardiovascular system & hematology, ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily D, Member 1, Leukoencephalopathy, 03 medical and health sciences, Dysarthria, 0302 clinical medicine, Neuroimaging, medicine, Humans, Adrenoleukodystrophy, business.industry, Limb ataxia, General Medicine, medicine.disease, White Matter, medicine.anatomical_structure, Neurology (clinical), Differential diagnosis, medicine.symptom, business, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, Brain Stem
Abstract

Introduction X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) encompasses several clinical and neuroimaging phenotypes, including cerebral X-ALD, the most common phenotype in children, and adrenomyeloneuropathy, the most common phenotype in adults. A spinocerebellar variant of X-ALD has been described in individuals from the Far East, but the criteria for its diagnosis are unclear. Case report A 35-year-old man from Albania was assessed because of a familial, slowly progressive spastic-ataxic gait associated with neurogenic bladder, sexual dysfunctions, and manic-like behavior. There was no definite clinical feature that suggested cerebellar involvement (eg, cerebellar limb ataxia, nystagmus, and dysarthria). A few months earlier, he had received a diagnosis of Addison disease. Brain magnetic resonance imaging showed a leukoencephalopathy with predominant cerebellum and brainstem involvement, and FDG-PET revealed marked cerebellar hypometabolism. The diagnosis of X-ALD was made because we found an increase of very long chain fatty acids, and a new ABCD1 mutation (c.1627C>T, p.Pro543Ser). Conclusions X-ALD should be included in the differential diagnosis of adult leukoencephalopathies with predominant involvement of infratentorial structures, that is, the cerebellum and brainstem. From a classification perspective, our patient (of white origin), like others (all of Asian origin), should be considered as suffering from a variant of adrenomyeloneuropathy rather than from spinocerebellar X-ALD. Actually, the term "spinocerebellar" or similar ones, such as "cerebello-brainstem dominant form," should be limited to those exceptional cases, in which both the clinical and neuroimaging findings point exclusively (or at least predominantly) to the involvement of infratentorial structures.

Published
2019

22. Cortical markers of cognitive syndromes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Author

Eleonora Dalla Bella, Viviana Pensato, Valeria Elisa Contarino, Stefano F. Cappa, Cinzia Gellera, Giuseppe Lauria, Monica Consonni, and Eleonora Catricalà

Subjects
Male, FTD, frontotemporal dementia, Neuropsychological Tests, lcsh:RC346-429, CT, cortical thickness, 0302 clinical medicine, Neuropsychological assessment, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Cognitive impairment, Cerebral Cortex, medicine.diagnostic_test, 05 social sciences, Neurodegeneration, Cognition, Regular Article, Cognitive profiles, Middle Aged, ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, HC, healthy control, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Neurology, ALSimp, ALS with cognitive and/or behavioural impairment, lcsh:R858-859.7, Female, Frontotemporal dementia, Temporal lobe, MD, multi-domain, Cognitive Neuroscience, lcsh:Computer applications to medicine. Medical informatics, 050105 experimental psychology, Cortical thickness, 03 medical and health sciences, C9– ALS, ALS without C9orf repeat expansion, medicine, ALScn, cognitively-normal ALS, Humans, 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences, Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and imaging, lcsh:Neurology. Diseases of the nervous system, ALSbi, ALS with mild behavioural impairment, Aged, C9+ ALS, ALS harbouring C9orf72 repeat expansion, business.industry, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Magnetic resonance imaging, GM, grey matter, medicine.disease, ALSci, ALS with mild cognitive impairment, Neurology (clinical), Atrophy, business, Cognition Disorders, Neuroscience, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Abstract

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) can be associated with a spectrum of cognitive and behavioural symptoms, but the related patterns of focal cortical atrophy in non-demented ALS patients remain largely unknown. We enrolled 48 non-demented ALS patients and 26 healthy controls for a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment and a magnetic resonance exam. Behavioural and cognitive impairment was defined on the basis of a data-driven multi-domain approach in 21 ALS patients. Averaged cortical thickness of 74 bilateral brain regions was used as a measure of cortical atrophy. Cortical thinning in a fronto-parietal network, suggesting a disease-specific pattern of neurodegeneration, was present in all patients, independent of cognitive and behavioural status. Between-group and correlational analyses revealed that inferior frontal, temporal, cingular and insular thinning are markers for cognitive and behavioural deficits, with language impairment mainly related to left temporal pole and insular involvement. These specific correlates support the concept of a spectrum of deficits, with an overlap between the ALS cognitive phenotypes and the syndromes of frontotemporal dementia., Highlights • Language, social cognition and executive dysfunctions are frequent symptoms in ALS. • Fronto-parietal cortical thinning is present in non-demented ALS patients. • Temporal, cingular and insular thinning are markers for cognitive impairment in ALS. • Left temporal pole and insular thinning is linked to language impairment in ALS.

Published
2018

23. Behavioural impairment in ALS patients with SOD1 mutations

Author

Viviana Pensato, Cinzia Gellera, Enrica Bersano, Eleonora Dalla Bella, Giuseppe Lauria, and Monica Consonni

Subjects
Oncology, medicine.medical_specialty, Neurology, business.industry, Internal medicine, SOD1, Medicine, Neurology (clinical), business
Published
2021

24. Dysregulation of myomiRs as common pathogenic feature associated with muscle atrophy in ALS, SMA and SBMA: Evidence from animal models and human patients

Author

Monica Nizzardo, Viviana Pensato, Silvia Bonanno, Michela Taiana, Giuseppe Lauria, Riccardo Masson, Eleonora Giagnorio, Lorenzo Maggi, Renato Mantegazza, Cinzia Gellera, Silvia Fenu, Francesca Andreetta, Paola Cavalcante, Franco Salerno, Davide Pareyson, Stefania Corti, Claudia Malacarne, Eleonora Dalla Bella, Mariarita Galbiati, Cinzia Cagnoli, Stefania Marcuzzo, Angelo Poletti, and Anna Venerando

Subjects
Neurology, Feature (computer vision), business.industry, medicine, Neurology (clinical), medicine.symptom, SMA, business, Neuroscience, Muscle atrophy
Published
2021

25. The first case of the TARDBP p.G294V mutation in a homozygous state: is a single pathogenic allele sufficient to cause ALS?

Author

Simona Mellone, Massimo Saraceno, Alice Di Pierro, Viviana Pensato, Eleonora Dalla Bella, Letizia Mazzini, Roberta Croce, Cinzia Gellera, Ettore Salsano, Elvezia Maria Paraboschi, Sandra D'Alfonso, Mara Giordano, and Lucia Corrado

Subjects
Genetics, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Neurology, Mutation (genetic algorithm), medicine, Neurology (clinical), Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Allele, Biology, medicine.disease, TARDBP, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Abstract

Here, we described the first amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patient presenting the c.881 G > T p.G294V TARDBP mutation in homozygous status. The patient belongs to a large pedigree from Morocco. Except for one older affected brother his parents and remaining 8 sibs are referred to be healthy and do not show any neurological sign or symptom. The lack of evidence of TARDBP deletions of any sizes, together with the presence of several AOH segments, strongly suggests that the homozygosity status of p.G294V in the proband derived from parental consanguinity. A revision of the literature and our cohorts indicates that the p.G294V mutation has been detected in only 15 additional ALS patients in heterozygosity and, except for one additional Moroccan patient, all were of Italian origin. The analysis of microsatellite markers surrounding the TARDBP gene in 8 individuals carrying the p.G294V mutation showed that the haplotypic context of the Moroccan proband is shared with most patients of European origin indicating that they carry the p.G294V mutation inherited from a common ancestor. The analysis of the 15 ALS pedigrees (from literature data and present study), strongly suggests a reduced penetrance of the p.G294V mutation since for 13 of the 15 described p.G294V ALS cases the parents did not show any neurological symptoms. This result has potentially important implications in genetic counseling, since genetic testing of a reduced penetrance mutation on pre-symptomatic individuals proves very difficult to predict the outcome based on the genotype.

Published
2019
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26. Early white matter involvement in an infant carrying a novel mutation in ACOX1

Author

Silvia Guerra, Alessandro Simonati, Roberto Cerini, Franco Taroni, Viviana Pensato, Riccardo Masson, and Cinzia Gellera

Subjects
Male, 0301 basic medicine, Pathology, medicine.medical_specialty, Cerebellum, Peroxisomal disorders, ACOX1 disease, Deep cerebellar nuclei, White matter, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Seizures, Humans, Medicine, business.industry, Infant, General Medicine, MRI, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, White Matter, Hyperintensity, Molecular analysis, 030104 developmental biology, medicine.anatomical_structure, Child, Preschool, Mutation, Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health, ACOX1, Acyl-CoA Oxidase, Neurology (clinical), Brainstem, business, Novel mutation, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Abstract

We describe the clinical findings and MRI features observed in a child who presented a two-step disease course: he was hypotonic at birth and soon afterwards developed seizures, which were partially responsive to treatment; he subsequently showed developmental delay and a progressive neurological deterioration with the onset of severe seizures at around three years of age. Head MRI at age 20 days was unremarkable, whereas at 25 months it showed bilateral hyperintensity of the deep cerebellar nuclei; five months later, the signal hyperintensity was also present in the cerebellar white matter and ventral pontine fibre tracts. Molecular analysis revealed a novel ACOX1 mutation, predicting a largely truncated protein. The white matter involvement, which followed an ascending trajectory from cerebellar and brainstem structures to the cerebral hemispheres, seemed to originate from the perinuclear white matter of the deep cerebellar nuclei.

Published
2016

27. Genome-wide Analyses Identify KIF5A as a Novel ALS Gene

Author

Aude Nicolas, Kevin P. Kenna, Alan E. Renton, Nicola Ticozzi, Faraz Faghri, Ruth Chia, Janice A. Dominov, Brendan J. Kenna, Mike A. Nalls, Pamela Keagle, Alberto M. Rivera, Wouter van Rheenen, Natalie A. Murphy, Joke J.F.A. van Vugt, Joshua T. Geiger, Rick A. Van der Spek, Hannah A. Pliner, null Shankaracharya, Bradley N. Smith, Giuseppe Marangi, Simon D. Topp, Yevgeniya Abramzon, Athina Soragia Gkazi, John D. Eicher, Aoife Kenna, Gabriele Mora, Andrea Calvo, Letizia Mazzini, Nilo Riva, Jessica Mandrioli, Claudia Caponnetto, Stefania Battistini, Paolo Volanti, Vincenzo La Bella, Francesca L. Conforti, Giuseppe Borghero, Sonia Messina, Isabella L. Simone, Francesca Trojsi, Fabrizio Salvi, Francesco O. Logullo, Sandra D’Alfonso, Lucia Corrado, Margherita Capasso, Luigi Ferrucci, Cristiane de Araujo Martins Moreno, Sitharthan Kamalakaran, David B. Goldstein, Aaron D. Gitler, Tim Harris, Richard M. Myers, Hemali Phatnani, Rajeeva Lochan Musunuri, Uday Shankar Evani, Avinash Abhyankar, Michael C. Zody, Julia Kaye, Steven Finkbeiner, Stacia K. Wyman, Alex LeNail, Leandro Lima, Ernest Fraenkel, Clive N. Svendsen, Leslie M. Thompson, Jennifer E. Van Eyk, James D. Berry, Timothy M. Miller, Stephen J. Kolb, Merit Cudkowicz, Emily Baxi, Michael Benatar, J. Paul Taylor, Evadnie Rampersaud, Gang Wu, Joanne Wuu, Giuseppe Lauria, Federico Verde, Isabella Fogh, Cinzia Tiloca, Giacomo P. Comi, Gianni Sorarù, Cristina Cereda, Philippe Corcia, Hannu Laaksovirta, Liisa Myllykangas, Lilja Jansson, Miko Valori, John Ealing, Hisham Hamdalla, Sara Rollinson, Stuart Pickering-Brown, Richard W. Orrell, Katie C. Sidle, Andrea Malaspina, John Hardy, Andrew B. Singleton, Janel O. Johnson, Sampath Arepalli, Peter C. Sapp, Diane McKenna-Yasek, Meraida Polak, Seneshaw Asress, Safa Al-Sarraj, Andrew King, Claire Troakes, Caroline Vance, Jacqueline de Belleroche, Frank Baas, Anneloor L.M.A. ten Asbroek, José Luis Muñoz-Blanco, Dena G. Hernandez, Jinhui Ding, J. Raphael Gibbs, Sonja W. Scholz, Mary Kay Floeter, Roy H. Campbell, Francesco Landi, Robert Bowser, Stefan M. Pulst, John M. Ravits, Daniel J.L. MacGowan, Janine Kirby, Erik P. Pioro, Roger Pamphlett, James Broach, Glenn Gerhard, Travis L. Dunckley, Christopher B. Brady, Neil W. Kowall, Juan C. Troncoso, Isabelle Le Ber, Kevin Mouzat, Serge Lumbroso, Terry D. Heiman-Patterson, Freya Kamel, Ludo Van Den Bosch, Robert H. Baloh, Tim M. Strom, Thomas Meitinger, Aleksey Shatunov, Kristel R. Van Eijk, Mamede de Carvalho, Maarten Kooyman, Bas Middelkoop, Matthieu Moisse, Russell L. McLaughlin, Michael A. Van Es, Markus Weber, Kevin B. Boylan, Marka Van Blitterswijk, Rosa Rademakers, Karen E. Morrison, A. Nazli Basak, Jesús S. Mora, Vivian E. Drory, Pamela J. Shaw, Martin R. Turner, Kevin Talbot, Orla Hardiman, Kelly L. Williams, Jennifer A. Fifita, Garth A. Nicholson, Ian P. Blair, Guy A. Rouleau, Jesús Esteban-Pérez, Alberto García-Redondo, Ammar Al-Chalabi, Ekaterina Rogaeva, Lorne Zinman, Lyle W. Ostrow, Nicholas J. Maragakis, Jeffrey D. Rothstein, Zachary Simmons, Johnathan Cooper-Knock, Alexis Brice, Stephen A. Goutman, Eva L. Feldman, Summer B. Gibson, Franco Taroni, Antonia Ratti, Cinzia Gellera, Philip Van Damme, Wim Robberecht, Pietro Fratta, Mario Sabatelli, Christian Lunetta, Albert C. Ludolph, Peter M. Andersen, Jochen H. Weishaupt, William Camu, John Q. Trojanowski, Vivianna M. Van Deerlin, Robert H. Brown, Leonard H. van den Berg, Jan H. Veldink, Matthew B. Harms, Jonathan D. Glass, David J. Stone, Pentti Tienari, Vincenzo Silani, Adriano Chiò, Christopher E. Shaw, Bryan J. Traynor, John E. Landers, Isabella Simone, Giancarlo Logroscino, Ilaria Bartolomei, Maria Rita Murru, Emanuela Costantino, Carla Pani, Roberta Puddu, Carla Caredda, Valeria Piras, Stefania Tranquilli, Stefania Cuccu, Daniela Corongiu, Maurizio Melis, Antonio Milia, Francesco Marrosu, Maria Giovanna Marrosu, Gianluca Floris, Antonino Cannas, Gianluigi Mancardi, Paola Origone, Paola Mandich, Sebastiano Cavallaro, Kalliopi Marinou, Riccardo Sideri, Silvana Penco, Lorena Mosca, Giuseppe Lauria Pinter, Massimo Corbo, Paola Carrera, Nicola Fini, Antonio Fasano, Lucio Tremolizzo, Alessandro Arosio, Carlo Ferrarese, Gioacchino Tedeschi, Maria Rosaria Monsurrò, Giovanni Piccirillo, Cinzia Femiano, Anna Ticca, Enzo Ortu, Rossella Spataro, Tiziana Colletti, Marcella Zollino, Amelia Conte, Marco Luigetti, Serena Lattante, Marialuisa Santarelli, Antonio Petrucci, Maura Pugliatti, Angelo Pirisi, Leslie D. Parish, Patrizia Occhineri, Fabio Giannini, Claudia Ricci, Michele Benigni, Tea B. Cau, Daniela Loi, Cristina Moglia, Maura Brunetti, Marco Barberis, Gabriella Restagno, Federico Casale, Giuseppe Marrali, Giuseppe Fuda, Irene Ossola, Stefania Cammarosano, Antonio Canosa, Antonio Ilardi, Umberto Manera, Maurizio Grassano, Raffaella Tanel, Fabrizio Pisano, Neil A. Shneider, Stephen Goutman, Siddharthan Chandran, Suvankar Pal, George Manousakis, Stanley H. Appel, Ericka Simpson, Leo Wang, Summer Gibson, Richard Bedlack, David Lacomis, Dhruv Sareen, Alexander Sherman, Lucie Bruijn, Michelle Penny, Andrew S. Allen, Stanley Appel, Richard S. Bedlack, Braden E. Boone, Robert Brown, John P. Carulli, Alessandra Chesi, Wendy K. Chung, Elizabeth T. Cirulli, Gregory M. Cooper, Julien Couthouis, Aaron G. Day-Williams, Patrick A. Dion, Yujun Han, Sebastian D. Hayes, Angela L. Jones, Jonathan Keebler, Brian J. Krueger, Brittany N. Lasseigne, Shawn E. Levy, Yi-Fan Lu, Tom Maniatis, Slavé Petrovski, Alya R. Raphael, Zhong Ren, Katherine B. Sims, John F. Staropoli, Lindsay L. Waite, Quanli Wang, Jack R. Wimbish, Winnie W. Xin, Justin Kwan, James R. Broach, Ximena Arcila-Londono, Edward B. Lee, Noah Zaitlen, Gregory A. Cox, Steve Finkbeiner, Efthimios Dardiotis, Eran Hornstein, Daniel J. MacGowan, Terry Heiman-Patterson, Molly G. Hammell, Nikolaos A. Patsopoulos, Joshua Dubnau, Avindra Nath, Stacia Wyman, Alexander LeNail, Jenny Van Eyk, Stephan Züchner, Rebecca Schule, Jacob McCauley, Sumaira Hussain, Anne Cooley, Marielle Wallace, Christine Clayman, Richard Barohn, Jeffrey Statland, John Ravits, Andrea Swenson, Carlayne Jackson, Jaya Trivedi, Shaida Khan, Jonathan Katz, Liberty Jenkins, Ted Burns, Kelly Gwathmey, James Caress, Corey McMillan, Lauren Elman, Erik Pioro, Jeannine Heckmann, Yuen So, David Walk, Samuel Maiser, Jinghui Zhang, Fabiola De Marchi, Stefania Corti, Mauro Ceroni, Gabriele Siciliano, Massimiliano Filosto, Maurizio Inghilleri, Silvia Peverelli, Claudia Colombrita, Barbara Poletti, Luca Maderna, Roberto Del Bo, Stella Gagliardi, Giorgia Querin, Cinzia Bertolin, Viviana Pensato, Barbara Castellotti, Vincent Meininger, Gérard Besson, Emmeline Lagrange, Pierre Clavelou, Nathalie Guy, Philippe Couratier, Patrick Vourch, Véronique Danel, Emilien Bernard, Gwendal Lemasson, Ahmad Al Kheifat, Peter Andersen, Adriano Chio, Jonathan Cooper-Knock, Annelot Dekker, Vivian Drory, Alberto Garcia Redondo, Marc Gotkine, Winston Hide, Alfredo Iacoangeli, Jonathan Glass, Kevin Kenna, Matthew Kiernan, John Landers, Russell McLaughlin, Jonathan Mill, Miguel Mitne Neto, Mattieu Moisse, Jesus Mora Pardina, Karen Morrison, Stephen Newhouse, Susana Pinto, Sara Pulit, Pamela Shaw, Chris Shaw, William Sproviero, Gijs Tazelaar, Philip van Damme, Leonard van den Berg, Rick van der Spek, Kristel van Eijk, Michael van Es, Joke van Vugt, Jan Veldink, Mayana Zatz, Denis C. Bauer, Natalie A. Twine, Department of Neurosciences, Pentti Tienari / Principal Investigator, Neurologian yksikkö, Research Programs Unit, Clinicum, Research Programme for Molecular Neurology, University of Helsinki, Medicum, Department of Pathology, HUS Neurocenter, Nicolas A., Kenna K.P., Renton A.E., Ticozzi N., Faghri F., Chia R., Dominov J.A., Kenna B.J., Nalls M.A., Keagle P., Rivera A.M., van Rheenen W., Murphy N.A., van Vugt J.J.F.A., Geiger J.T., Van der Spek R.A., Pliner H.A., Shankaracharya, Smith B.N., Marangi G., Topp S.D., Abramzon Y., Gkazi A.S., Eicher J.D., Kenna A., Logullo F.O., Simone I.L., Logroscino G., Salvi F., Bartolomei I., Borghero G., Murru M.R., Costantino E., Pani C., Puddu R., Caredda C., Piras V., Tranquilli S., Cuccu S., Corongiu D., Melis M., Milia A., Marrosu F., Marrosu M.G., Floris G., Cannas A., Capasso M., Caponnetto C., Mancardi G., Origone P., Mandich P., Conforti F.L., Cavallaro S., Mora G., Marinou K., Sideri R., Penco S., Mosca L., Lunetta C., Pinter G.L., Corbo M., Riva N., Carrera P., Volanti P., Mandrioli J., Fini N., Fasano A., Tremolizzo L., Arosio A., Ferrarese C., Trojsi F., Tedeschi G., Monsurro M.R., Piccirillo G., Femiano C., Ticca A., Ortu E., La Bella V., Spataro R., Colletti T., Sabatelli M., Zollino M., Conte A., Luigetti M., Lattante S., Santarelli M., Petrucci A., Pugliatti M., Pirisi A., Parish L.D., Occhineri P., Giannini F., Battistini S., Ricci C., Benigni M., Cau T.B., Loi D., Calvo A., Moglia C., Brunetti M., Barberis M., Restagno G., Casale F., Marrali G., Fuda G., Ossola I., Cammarosano S., Canosa A., Ilardi A., Manera U., Grassano M., Tanel R., Pisano F., Mazzini L., Messina S., D'Alfonso S., Corrado L., Ferrucci L., Harms M.B., Goldstein D.B., Shneider N.A., Goutman S.A., Simmons Z., Miller T.M., Chandran S., Pal S., Manousakis G., Appel S.H., Simpson E., Wang L., Baloh R.H., Gibson S.B., Bedlack R., Lacomis D., Sareen D., Sherman A., Bruijn L., Penny M., Moreno C.D.A.M., Kamalakaran S., Allen A.S., Boone B.E., Brown R.H., Carulli J.P., Chesi A., Chung W.K., Cirulli E.T., Cooper G.M., Couthouis J., Day-Williams A.G., Dion P.A., Gitler A.D., Glass J.D., Han Y., Harris T., Hayes S.D., Jones A.L., Keebler J., Krueger B.J., Lasseigne B.N., Levy S.E., Lu Y.-F., Maniatis T., McKenna-Yasek D., Myers R.M., Petrovski S., Pulst S.M., Raphael A.R., Ravits J.M., Ren Z., Rouleau G.A., Sapp P.C., Sims K.B., Staropoli J.F., Waite L.L., Wang Q., Wimbish J.R., Xin W.W., Phatnani H., Kwan J., Broach J., Arcila-Londono X., Lee E.B., Van Deerlin V.M., Fraenkel E., Ostrow L.W., Baas F., Zaitlen N., Berry J.D., Malaspina A., Fratta P., Cox G.A., Thompson L.M., Finkbeiner S., Dardiotis E., Hornstein E., MacGowan D.J.L., Heiman-Patterson T., Hammell M.G., Patsopoulos N.A., Dubnau J., Nath A., Musunuri R.L., Evani U.S., Abhyankar A., Zody M.C., Kaye J., Wyman S.K., LeNail A., Lima L., Rothstein J.D., Svendsen C.N., Van Eyk J.E., Maragakis N.J., Kolb S.J., Cudkowicz M., Baxi E., Benatar M., Taylor J.P., Wu G., Rampersaud E., Wuu J., Rademakers R., Zuchner S., Schule R., McCauley J., Hussain S., Cooley A., Wallace M., Clayman C., Barohn R., Statland J., Swenson A., Jackson C., Trivedi J., Khan S., Katz J., Jenkins L., Burns T., Gwathmey K., Caress J., McMillan C., Elman L., Pioro E.P., Heckmann J., So Y., Walk D., Maiser S., Zhang J., Silani V., Gellera C., Ratti A., Taroni F., Lauria G., Verde F., Fogh I., Tiloca C., Comi G.P., Soraru G., Cereda C., De Marchi F., Corti S., Ceroni M., Siciliano G., Filosto M., Inghilleri M., Peverelli S., Colombrita C., Poletti B., Maderna L., Del Bo R., Gagliardi S., Querin G., Bertolin C., Pensato V., Castellotti B., Camu W., Mouzat K., Lumbroso S., Corcia P., Meininger V., Besson G., Lagrange E., Clavelou P., Guy N., Couratier P., Vourch P., Danel V., Bernard E., Lemasson G., Laaksovirta H., Myllykangas L., Jansson L., Valori M., Ealing J., Hamdalla H., Rollinson S., Pickering-Brown S., Orrell R.W., Sidle K.C., Hardy J., Singleton A.B., Johnson J.O., Arepalli S., Polak M., Asress S., Al-Sarraj S., King A., Troakes C., Vance C., de Belleroche J., ten Asbroek A.L.M.A., Munoz-Blanco J.L., Hernandez D.G., Ding J., Gibbs J.R., Scholz S.W., Floeter M.K., Campbell R.H., Landi F., Bowser R., Kirby J., Pamphlett R., Gerhard G., Dunckley T.L., Brady C.B., Kowall N.W., Troncoso J.C., Le Ber I., Heiman-Patterson T.D., Kamel F., Van Den Bosch L., Strom T.M., Meitinger T., Shatunov A., Van Eijk K.R., de Carvalho M., Kooyman M., Middelkoop B., Moisse M., McLaughlin R.L., Van Es M.A., Weber M., Boylan K.B., Van Blitterswijk M., Morrison K.E., Basak A.N., Mora J.S., Drory V.E., Shaw P.J., Turner M.R., Talbot K., Hardiman O., Williams K.L., Fifita J.A., Nicholson G.A., Blair I.P., Esteban-Perez J., Garcia-Redondo A., Al-Chalabi A., Al Kheifat A., Andersen P.M., Chio A., Cooper-Knock J., Dekker A., Redondo A.G., Gotkine M., Hide W., Iacoangeli A., Kiernan M., Landers J.E., Mill J., Neto M.M., Pardina J.M., Newhouse S., Pinto S., Pulit S., Robberecht W., Shaw C., Sproviero W., Tazelaar G., Van Damme P., van den Berg L.H., van Vugt J., Veldink J.H., Zatz M., Bauer D.C., Twine N.A., Rogaeva E., Zinman L., Brice A., Feldman E.L., Ludolph A.C., Weishaupt J.H., Trojanowski J.Q., Stone D.J., Tienari P., Shaw C.E., Traynor B.J., ITALSGEN Consortium, Genomic Translation ALS Care GTAC, ALS Sequencing Consortium, NYGC ALS Consortium, Answer ALS Fdn, Clinical Res ALS Related Disorders, SLAGEN Consortium, French ALS Consortium, Project MinE ALS Sequencing Consor, Medical Research Council (MRC), ANS - Complex Trait Genetics, Human Genetics, ARD - Amsterdam Reproduction and Development, Catholic University of Leuven - Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven), Università cattolica del Sacro Cuore [Roma] (Unicatt), Centre référent Sclérose Latérale Amyotrophique [CHRU Montpellier] (SLA CHRU Montpellier), Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire [Montpellier] (CHRU Montpellier)-Université Montpellier 1 (UM1), Lunar and Planetary Laboratory [Tucson] (LPL), University of Arizona, Università degli studi di Torino (UNITO), Institut du Cerveau et de la Moëlle Epinière = Brain and Spine Institute (ICM), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-CHU Pitié-Salpêtrière [AP-HP], Sorbonne Université (SU)-Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), New York Genome Center [New York], New York Genome Center, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive - UMR 5558 (LBBE), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria)-VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement (VAS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Howard Hughes Medical Institute [Chevy Chase] (HHMI), Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), Centre de compétence de la Sclérose Latérale Amyotrophique [CHRU Tours] (SLA CHRU Tours), Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire de Tours (CHRU Tours), University College of London [London] (UCL), Synchrotron SOLEIL (SSOLEIL), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), King‘s College London, University of New Haven [Connecticut], Princeton University, Laboratoire de Biochimie [CHRU Nîmes], Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nîmes (CHU Nîmes), Institut des Neurosciences de Montpellier - Déficits sensoriels et moteurs (INM), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Technische Universität Munchen - Université Technique de Munich [Munich, Allemagne] (TUM), Helmholtz-Zentrum München (HZM), University Medical Center [Utrecht], Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz GmbH = German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Mayo Clinic [Jacksonville], Trinity College Dublin, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institut, Tanz Center Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases [Toronto], University of Toronto, Neurologie et thérapeutique expérimentale, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-IFR70-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC), Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa, Nicolas, A, Kenna, K, Renton, A, Ticozzi, N, Faghri, F, Chia, R, Dominov, J, Kenna, B, Nalls, M, Keagle, P, Rivera, A, van Rheenen, W, Murphy, N, van Vugt, J, Geiger, J, van der Spek, R, Pliner, H, Shankaracharya, N, Smith, B, Marangi, G, Topp, S, Abramzon, Y, Gkazi, A, Eicher, J, Kenna, A, Logullo, F, Simone, I, Logroscino, G, Salvi, F, Bartolomei, I, Borghero, G, Murru, M, Costantino, E, Pani, C, Puddu, R, Caredda, C, Piras, V, Tranquilli, S, Cuccu, S, Corongiu, D, Melis, M, Milia, A, Marrosu, F, Marrosu, M, Floris, G, Cannas, A, Capasso, M, Caponnetto, C, Mancardi, G, Origone, P, Mandich, P, Conforti, F, Cavallaro, S, Mora, G, Marinou, K, Sideri, R, Penco, S, Mosca, L, Lunetta, C, Pinter, G, Corbo, M, Riva, N, Carrera, P, Volanti, P, Mandrioli, J, Fini, N, Fasano, A, Tremolizzo, L, Arosio, A, Ferrarese, C, Trojsi, F, Tedeschi, G, Monsurrò, M, Piccirillo, G, Femiano, C, Ticca, A, Ortu, E, La Bella, V, Spataro, R, Colletti, T, Sabatelli, M, Zollino, M, Conte, A, Luigetti, M, Lattante, S, Santarelli, M, Petrucci, A, Pugliatti, M, Pirisi, A, Parish, L, Occhineri, P, Giannini, F, Battistini, S, Ricci, C, Benigni, M, Cau, T, Loi, D, Calvo, A, Moglia, C, Brunetti, M, Barberis, M, Restagno, G, Casale, F, Marrali, G, Fuda, G, Ossola, I, Cammarosano, S, Canosa, A, Ilardi, A, Manera, U, Grassano, M, Tanel, R, Pisano, F, Mazzini, L, Messina, S, D'Alfonso, S, Corrado, L, Ferrucci, L, Harms, M, Goldstein, D, Shneider, N, Goutman, S, Simmons, Z, Miller, T, Chandran, S, Pal, S, Manousakis, G, Appel, S, Simpson, E, Wang, L, Baloh, R, Gibson, S, Bedlack, R, Lacomis, D, Sareen, D, Sherman, A, Bruijn, L, Penny, M, Moreno, C, Kamalakaran, S, Allen, A, Boone, B, Brown, R, Carulli, J, Chesi, A, Chung, W, Cirulli, E, Cooper, G, Couthouis, J, Day-Williams, A, Dion, P, Gitler, A, Glass, J, Han, Y, Harris, T, Hayes, S, Jones, A, Keebler, J, Krueger, B, Lasseigne, B, Levy, S, Lu, Y, Maniatis, T, McKenna-Yasek, D, Myers, R, Petrovski, S, Pulst, S, Raphael, A, Ravits, J, Ren, Z, Rouleau, G, Sapp, P, Sims, K, Staropoli, J, Waite, L, Wang, Q, Wimbish, J, Xin, W, Phatnani, H, Kwan, J, Broach, J, Arcila-Londono, X, Lee, E, Van Deerlin, V, Fraenkel, E, Ostrow, L, Baas, F, Zaitlen, N, Berry, J, Malaspina, A, Fratta, P, Cox, G, Thompson, L, Finkbeiner, S, Dardiotis, E, Hornstein, E, Macgowan, D, Heiman-Patterson, T, Hammell, M, Patsopoulos, N, Dubnau, J, Nath, A, Musunuri, R, Evani, U, Abhyankar, A, Zody, M, Kaye, J, Wyman, S, Lenail, A, Lima, L, Rothstein, J, Svendsen, C, Van Eyk, J, Maragakis, N, Kolb, S, Cudkowicz, M, Baxi, E, Benatar, M, Taylor, J, Wu, G, Rampersaud, E, Wuu, J, Rademakers, R, Züchner, S, Schule, R, Mccauley, J, Hussain, S, Cooley, A, Wallace, M, Clayman, C, Barohn, R, Statland, J, Swenson, A, Jackson, C, Trivedi, J, Khan, S, Katz, J, Jenkins, L, Burns, T, Gwathmey, K, Caress, J, Mcmillan, C, Elman, L, Pioro, E, Heckmann, J, So, Y, Walk, D, Maiser, S, Zhang, J, Silani, V, Gellera, C, Ratti, A, Taroni, F, Lauria, G, Verde, F, Fogh, I, Tiloca, C, Comi, G, Sorarù, G, Cereda, C, De Marchi, F, Corti, S, Ceroni, M, Siciliano, G, Filosto, M, Inghilleri, M, Peverelli, S, Colombrita, C, Poletti, B, Maderna, L, Del Bo, R, Gagliardi, S, Querin, G, Bertolin, C, Pensato, V, Castellotti, B, Camu, W, Mouzat, K, Lumbroso, S, Corcia, P, Meininger, V, Besson, G, Lagrange, E, Clavelou, P, Guy, N, Couratier, P, Vourch, P, Danel, V, Bernard, E, Lemasson, G, Laaksovirta, H, Myllykangas, L, Jansson, L, Valori, M, Ealing, J, Hamdalla, H, Rollinson, S, Pickering-Brown, S, Orrell, R, Sidle, K, Hardy, J, Singleton, A, Johnson, J, Arepalli, S, Polak, M, Asress, S, Al-Sarraj, S, King, A, Troakes, C, Vance, C, de Belleroche, J, ten Asbroek, A, Muñoz-Blanco, J, Hernandez, D, Ding, J, Gibbs, J, Scholz, S, Floeter, M, Campbell, R, Landi, F, Bowser, R, Kirby, J, Pamphlett, R, Gerhard, G, Dunckley, T, Brady, C, Kowall, N, Troncoso, J, Le Ber, I, Kamel, F, Van Den Bosch, L, Strom, T, Meitinger, T, Shatunov, A, Van Eijk, K, de Carvalho, M, Kooyman, M, Middelkoop, B, Moisse, M, Mclaughlin, R, Van Es, M, Weber, M, Boylan, K, Van Blitterswijk, M, Morrison, K, Basak, A, Mora, J, Drory, V, Shaw, P, Turner, M, Talbot, K, Hardiman, O, Williams, K, Fifita, J, Nicholson, G, Blair, I, Esteban-Pérez, J, García-Redondo, A, Al-Chalabi, A, Al Kheifat, A, Andersen, P, Chio, A, Cooper-Knock, J, Dekker, A, Redondo, A, Gotkine, M, Hide, W, Iacoangeli, A, Kiernan, M, Landers, J, Mill, J, Neto, M, Pardina, J, Newhouse, S, Pinto, S, Pulit, S, Robberecht, W, Shaw, C, Sproviero, W, Tazelaar, G, van Damme, P, van den Berg, L, van Eijk, K, van Es, M, Veldink, J, Zatz, M, Bauer, D, Twine, N, Rogaeva, E, Zinman, L, Brice, A, Feldman, E, Ludolph, A, Weishaupt, J, Trojanowski, J, Stone, D, Tienari, P, Chiò, A, Traynor, B, Nicolas, Aude, Kenna, Kevin P, Renton, Alan E, Ticozzi, Nicola, Faghri, Faraz, Chia, Ruth, Dominov, Janice A, Kenna, Brendan J, Nalls, Mike A, Keagle, Pamela, Rivera, Alberto M, van Rheenen, Wouter, Murphy, Natalie A, van Vugt, Joke J F A, Geiger, Joshua T, Van der Spek, Rick A, Pliner, Hannah A, Shankaracharya, Null, Smith, Bradley N, Marangi, Giuseppe, Topp, Simon D, Abramzon, Yevgeniya, Gkazi, Athina Soragia, Eicher, John D, Kenna, Aoife, Mora, Gabriele, Calvo, Andrea, Mazzini, Letizia, Riva, Nilo, Mandrioli, Jessica, Caponnetto, Claudia, Battistini, Stefania, Volanti, Paolo, La Bella, Vincenzo, Conforti, Francesca L, Borghero, Giuseppe, Messina, Sonia, Simone, Isabella L, Trojsi, Francesca, Salvi, Fabrizio, Logullo, Francesco O, D'Alfonso, Sandra, Corrado, Lucia, Capasso, Margherita, Ferrucci, Luigi, Logullo, Fo, Murru, Mr, Marrosu, Mg, Conforti, Fl, Pinter, Gl, Tedeschi, Gioacchino, Monsurrò, Maria Rosaria, Parish, Ld, Cau, Tb, Moreno, Cristiane de Araujo Martin, Kamalakaran, Sitharthan, Goldstein, David B, Gitler, Aaron D, Harris, Tim, Myers, Richard M, Phatnani, Hemali, Musunuri, Rajeeva Lochan, Evani, Uday Shankar, Abhyankar, Avinash, Zody, Michael C, Kaye, Julia, Finkbeiner, Steven, Wyman, Stacia K, Lenail, Alex, Lima, Leandro, Fraenkel, Ernest, Svendsen, Clive N, Thompson, Leslie M, Van Eyk, Jennifer E, Berry, James D, Miller, Timothy M, Kolb, Stephen J, Cudkowicz, Merit, Baxi, Emily, Benatar, Michael, Taylor, J Paul, Rampersaud, Evadnie, Wu, Gang, Wuu, Joanne, Lauria, Giuseppe, Verde, Federico, Fogh, Isabella, Tiloca, Cinzia, Comi, Giacomo P, Sorarù, Gianni, Cereda, Cristina, Corcia, Philippe, Laaksovirta, Hannu, Myllykangas, Liisa, Jansson, Lilja, Valori, Miko, Ealing, John, Hamdalla, Hisham, Rollinson, Sara, Pickering-Brown, Stuart, Orrell, Richard W, Sidle, Katie C, Malaspina, Andrea, Hardy, John, Singleton, Andrew B, Johnson, Janel O, Arepalli, Sampath, Sapp, Peter C, McKenna-Yasek, Diane, Polak, Meraida, Asress, Seneshaw, Al-Sarraj, Safa, King, Andrew, Troakes, Claire, Vance, Caroline, de Belleroche, Jacqueline, Baas, Frank, Ten Asbroek, Anneloor L M A, Muñoz-Blanco, José Lui, Hernandez, Dena G, Ding, Jinhui, Gibbs, J Raphael, Scholz, Sonja W, Floeter, Mary Kay, Campbell, Roy H, Landi, Francesco, Bowser, Robert, Pulst, Stefan M, Ravits, John M, Macgowan, Daniel J L, Kirby, Janine, Pioro, Erik P, Pamphlett, Roger, Broach, Jame, Gerhard, Glenn, Dunckley, Travis L, Brady, Christopher B, Kowall, Neil W, Troncoso, Juan C, Le Ber, Isabelle, Mouzat, Kevin, Lumbroso, Serge, Heiman-Patterson, Terry D, Kamel, Freya, Van Den Bosch, Ludo, Baloh, Robert H, Strom, Tim M, Meitinger, Thoma, Shatunov, Aleksey, Van Eijk, Kristel R, de Carvalho, Mamede, Kooyman, Maarten, Middelkoop, Ba, Moisse, Matthieu, Mclaughlin, Russell L, Van Es, Michael A, Weber, Marku, Boylan, Kevin B, Van Blitterswijk, Marka, Rademakers, Rosa, Morrison, Karen E, Basak, A Nazli, Mora, Jesús S, Drory, Vivian E, Shaw, Pamela J, Turner, Martin R, Talbot, Kevin, Hardiman, Orla, Williams, Kelly L, Fifita, Jennifer A, Nicholson, Garth A, Blair, Ian P, Rouleau, Guy A, Esteban-Pérez, Jesú, García-Redondo, Alberto, Al-Chalabi, Ammar, Rogaeva, Ekaterina, Zinman, Lorne, Ostrow, Lyle W, Maragakis, Nicholas J, Rothstein, Jeffrey D, Simmons, Zachary, Cooper-Knock, Johnathan, Brice, Alexi, Goutman, Stephen A, Feldman, Eva L, Gibson, Summer B, Taroni, Franco, Ratti, Antonia, Gellera, Cinzia, Van Damme, Philip, Robberecht, Wim, Fratta, Pietro, Sabatelli, Mario, Lunetta, Christian, Ludolph, Albert C, Andersen, Peter M, Weishaupt, Jochen H, Camu, William, Trojanowski, John Q, Van Deerlin, Vivianna M, Brown, Robert H, van den Berg, Leonard H, Veldink, Jan H, Harms, Matthew B, Glass, Jonathan D, Stone, David J, Tienari, Pentti, Silani, Vincenzo, Chiò, Adriano, Shaw, Christopher E, Traynor, Bryan J, Landers, John E, Université Montpellier 1 (UM1)-Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire [Montpellier] (CHRU Montpellier), Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire de Tours (CHRU TOURS), and Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Université de Montpellier (UM)

Subjects
Male, Als gene, Genome-wide association study, FAMILIAL ALS, ALS, axonal transport, cargo, GWAS, KIF5A, WES, WGS, 0302 clinical medicine, 80 and over, Psychology, Aetiology, Aged, 80 and over, 0303 health sciences, French ALS Consortium, Kinesin, KINESIN HEAVY-CHAIN, Cognitive Sciences, Human, Hereditary spastic paraplegia, Neuroscience(all), Single-nucleotide polymorphism, TARGETED DISRUPTION, Article, 03 medical and health sciences, Genetics, Humans, Amino Acid Sequence, Loss function, Aged, HEXANUCLEOTIDE REPEAT, Neuroscience (all), MUTATIONS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, 3112 Neurosciences, 1702 Cognitive Science, medicine.disease, ITALSGEN Consortium, Answer ALS Foundation, 030104 developmental biology, ALS Sequencing Consortium, Human medicine, 1109 Neurosciences, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, 0301 basic medicine, [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio], Kinesins, Neurodegenerative, Genetic analysis, Genome, AMYOTROPHIC-LATERAL-SCLEROSIS, 3124 Neurology and psychiatry, Cohort Studies, Pathogenesis, Loss of Function Mutation, Missense mutation, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, NYGC ALS Consortium, General Neuroscience, ALS, axonal transport, cargo, GWAS, KIF5A, WES, WGS, Middle Aged, Phenotype, Settore MED/26 - NEUROLOGIA, Neurological, Project MinE ALS Sequencing Consortium, Female, Adult, Biology, GENOTYPE IMPUTATION, Genome-Wide Association Study, Young Adult, NO, Rare Diseases, medicine, SLAGEN Consortium, Gene, 030304 developmental biology, Clinical Research in ALS and Related Disorders for Therapeutic Development (CReATe) Consortium, Neurology & Neurosurgery, Human Genome, Neurosciences, AXONAL-TRANSPORT, Brain Disorders, Family member, DNA-DAMAGE, MOTOR-NEURONS, 3111 Biomedicine, Cohort Studie, Genomic Translation for ALS Care (GTAC) Consortium, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosi
Abstract

© 2018 Elsevier Inc., To identify novel genes associated with ALS, we undertook two lines of investigation. We carried out a genome-wide association study comparing 20,806 ALS cases and 59,804 controls. Independently, we performed a rare variant burden analysis comparing 1,138 index familial ALS cases and 19,494 controls. Through both approaches, we identified kinesin family member 5A (KIF5A) as a novel gene associated with ALS. Interestingly, mutations predominantly in the N-terminal motor domain of KIF5A are causative for two neurodegenerative diseases: hereditary spastic paraplegia (SPG10) and Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 2 (CMT2). In contrast, ALS-associated mutations are primarily located at the C-terminal cargo-binding tail domain and patients harboring loss-of-function mutations displayed an extended survival relative to typical ALS cases. Taken together, these results broaden the phenotype spectrum resulting from mutations in KIF5A and strengthen the role of cytoskeletal defects in the pathogenesis of ALS.

Published
2018

28. Intra-individual plasticity of the TAZ gene leading to different heritable mutations in siblings with Barth syndrome

Author

Lorenzo Ferri, Maria Anna Donati, Frédéric M. Vaz, Renzo Guerrini, David Neil Cooper, Catia Cavicchi, Viviana Pensato, Federica Natacci, Cinzia Gellera, Serena Gasperini, Luigina Spaccini, Silvia Funghini, Amelia Morrone, Amsterdam Gastroenterology Endocrinology Metabolism, and Laboratory Genetic Metabolic Diseases

Subjects
Adult, Male, Heterozygote, Genetic counseling, Biology, medicine.disease_cause, Article, Chromosome Breakpoints, Genetic linkage, Genetics, medicine, Humans, Allele, Child, Gene, Genetics (clinical), Mutation, Siblings, Breakpoint, Infant, Barth syndrome, Gene rearrangement, medicine.disease, Barth Syndrome, Female, Acyltransferases, Gene Deletion, Transcription Factors
Abstract

Infantile-onset skeletal myopathy Barth syndrome (OMIM #302060) is caused by mutations in the X-linked TAZ gene and hence usually manifests itself only in hemizygous males. Confirmatory testing is provided by mutational analysis of the TAZ gene and/or by biochemical dosage of the monolysocardiolipin/tetralinoleoyl cardiolipin ratio. Heterozygous females do not usually display a clinical phenotype but may undergo molecular genetic prenatal diagnosis during pregnancy. We characterized two novel and non-identical TAZ gene rearrangements in the offspring of a single female carrier of Barth syndrome. The hg19chrX:g.153634427_153644361delinsKP_123427.1 TAZ gene rearrangement was identified in her affected son, whereas the NM_000116.3(TAZ)c.-72_109+51del TAZ gene deletion was identified in a male foetus during a subsequent pregnancy. The unaffected mother was surprisingly found to harbour both variants in addition to a wild-type TAZ allele. A combination of breakpoint junction sequencing, linkage analysis and assessment of allelic dosage revealed that the two variants had originated independently from an apparently unstable/mutable TAZ maternal allele albeit via different mutational mechanisms. We conclude that molecular prenatal diagnosis in Barth syndrome families with probands carrying TAZ gene rearrangements should include investigation of the entire coding region of the TAZ gene. The identification of the breakpoint junctions of such gross gene rearrangements is important to ensure accurate ascertainment of carriership with a view to providing appropriate genetic counselling.

Published
2015

29. The role of de novo mutations in the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Author

Nicola Ticozzi, Peter M. Andersen, Albert C. Ludolph, Antonia Ratti, Nicolai Marroquin, Jan H. Veldink, Frank P. Diekstra, John Landers, Federico Verde, Raymond D. Schellevis, Kevin P. Kenna, Vincenzo Silani, Barbara Castellotti, Bernard Muller, Cinzia Gellera, Viviana Pensato, Cinzia Tiloca, Peter Nürnberg, Christian Kubisch, Sara L. Pulit, Laurent C. Francioli, Perry T.C. van Doormaal, Janine Altmüller, Susanne Motameny, Joachim Wolf, Daniel J. Overste, Jochen H. Weishaupt, Leonard H. van den Berg, Annelot M. Dekker, Alexander E Volk, and Daniela Calini

Subjects
0301 basic medicine, Male, Mutation rate, medicine.medical_specialty, Population, Biology, medicine.disease_cause, Article, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Mutation Rate, Databases, Genetic, Protein Interaction Mapping, Exome Sequencing, Genetics, medicine, Humans, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Protein Interaction Maps, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, education, Genetics (clinical), Exome sequencing, Alleles, Genetic Association Studies, education.field_of_study, Mutation, C9orf72 Protein, Whole Genome Sequencing, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, medicine.disease, 030104 developmental biology, Disease Pathway, Amino Acid Substitution, Case-Control Studies, Medical genetics, Female, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Abstract

The genetic basis combined with the sporadic occurrence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) suggests a role of de novo mutations in disease pathogenesis. Previous studies provided some evidence for this hypothesis; however, results were conflicting: no genes with recurrent occurring de novo mutations were identified and different pathways were postulated. In this study, we analyzed whole-exome data from 82 new patient-parents trios and combined it with the datasets of all previously published ALS trios (173 trios in total). The per patient de novo rate was not higher than expected based on the general population (P = 0.40). We showed that these mutations are not part of the previously postulated pathways, and gene-gene interaction analysis found no enrichment of interacting genes in this group (P = 0.57). Also, we were able to show that the de novo mutations in ALS patients are located in genes already prone for de novo mutations (P < 1 × 10(−15)). Although the individual effect of rare de novo mutations in specific genes could not be assessed, our results indicate that, in contrast to previous hypothesis, de novo mutations in general do not impose a major burden on ALS risk.

Published
2017

30. Genetic correlation between amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and schizophrenia

Author

Cristina Cereda, Jurjen J. Luykx, Sandra Meier, Derek W. Morris, Douglas M. Ruderfer, Mythily Subramaniam, Paul Cormican, Lyudmila Georgieva, John Landers, Silvana Penco, Marian L. Hamshere, Frank Dudbridge, Mari Nelis, Dick Schijven, Jimmy Lee, Sarah E. Bergen, Alessandro Padovani, Nicholas W. Wood, Meraida Polak, Hannelore Ehrenreich, Nancy G. Buccola, Noa Carrera, Stefan Herms, Panos Roussos, Marion Friedl, Teimuraz Silagadze, Jim van Os, Annette M. Hartmann, Ole A. Andreassen, R. Jeroen Pasterkamp, Sibylle G. Schwab, Aleksey Shatunov, Eli A. Stahl, David A. Collier, Farooq Amin, Michael Conlon O'Donovan, Guiqing Cai, Kung-Yee Liang, Denis C. Bauer, Charles Curtis, Brion S. Maher, Ashley R. Jones, Sara L. Pulit, Sarah Tosato, Milan Macek, Vivianna M. Van Deerlin, Vincenzo Silani, Pietro Fratta, Bettina Konte, Rosanna Tortelli, Dan Rujescu, T. Scott Stroup, Elizabeth Bevilacqua, Christian Lunetta, Bradley T. Webb, Christophe Tzourio, Patrick Vourc'h, Joel N. Hirschhorn, Gilbert Bensimon, Timothy G. Dinan, Thomas G. Schulze, Richard A. Belliveau, Daniel R. Weinberger, Andrew McQuillin, Qingqin S. Li, Orla Hardiman, Claudine Laurent, Masashi Ikeda, Tim Kahlke, Rodney J. Scott, Frans Henskens, Tune H. Pers, Wolfgang Lieb, Christian Hammer, Elvira Bramon, Hana Kuzelova-Ptackova, Raquelle I. Mesholam-Gately, Ingrid Melle, Nadine Cohen, David Cohen, Nazli Basak, Elisabeth Stögmann, Nelson B. Freimer, Peter Eichhammer, J. Mallet, Preben Bo Mortensen, Robert H. Brown, Wouter van Rheenen, Roberto Del Bo, Dai Wang, Laurent Essioux, Larry J. Seidman, Hreinn Stefansson, Erik G. Jönsson, Mads V. Hollegaard, Raymond C.K. Chan, Susana Pinto, Alexander Richards, Jubao Duan, Peter Holmans, George Kirov, Pablo V. Gejman, Philippe Amouyel, Stephanie Godard, Dieter B. Wildenauer, Martina Wiedau-Pazos, Stacy Steinberg, Ole Mors, Andres Metspalu, Rolf Adolfsson, Shaun Purcell, Hugh Gurling, Joseph I. Friedman, Erik Söderman, Mark Weiser, Giacomo P. Comi, James A. Knowles, Peter M. Andersen, Brien P. Riley, Nakao Iwata, Jeremy M. Silverman, Mark J. Daly, Elena Parkhomenko, Digby Quested, Srinivas Thirumalai, Ulrich Schall, Jan Lubinski, Dragan M. Svrakic, Aaron R. Wolen, S. Hong Lee, Andrew Pocklington, Bernard Lerer, Vahram Haroutunian, Matthew C. Kiernan, Kenneth L. Davis, Assen Jablensky, William Byerley, Karol Estrada, Aarno Palotie, Cinzia Tiloca, Eadbhard O'Callaghan, Perry T.C. van Doormaal, Colm McDonald, Federico Casale, Thomas Meitinger, Robert Freedman, Gerome Breen, Milena Blagojevic-Radivojkov, Ian P. Blair, Ann E. Pulver, Jan H. Veldink, Giancarlo Logroscino, Miaoxin Li, Abraham Reichenberg, Esben Agerbo, Siddharthan Chandran, Patrik K. E. Magnusson, Andrew M. McIntosh, Gianni Sorarù, Maura Brunetti, Xuebin Zheng, Madeline Alexander, James L. Kennedy, Douglas Blackwood, Menachem Fromer, Martilias S. Farrell, Alan R. Sanders, Dominic B. Rowe, Alexis Brice, Jonathan Pimm, Emily H. M. Wong, Jana Strohmaier, André G. Uitterlinden, Andrea Calvo, Carsten Drepper, John Q. Trojanowski, Marcella Rietschel, Siow Ann Chong, Karen E. Morrison, Sang-Yun Oh, Laura Nisenbaum, Margaret O'Brien, Alkes L. Price, Carin J. Meijer, Michael Davidson, John Powell, Petr Slominsky, Wiepke Cahn, Cinzia Gellera, Vihra Milanova, Peter M. Visscher, Patricia T. Michie, Dimitris Dikeos, Jianxin Shi, Veikko Salomaa, Philip Van Damme, James J. Crowley, Younes Mokrab, Valentina Escott-Price, Jesus S. Mora, Stanley V. Catts, David St Clair, Bernhard Landwehrmeyer, John Hardy, Kristin K. Nicodemus, Dominique Campion, Juha Veijola, Wim Robberecht, Thomas Meyer, Peter Lichtner, Christos Pantelis, Markus Weber, Nilo Riva, Jin P. Szatkiewicz, Michele T. Pato, Cinzia Bertolin, Frank P. Diekstra, Simon Arcuti, Bryan J. Mowry, Hon-Cheong So, Adriano Chiò, Viviana Pensato, Yunjung Kim, Jean-François Dartigues, Zita Ausrele Kucinskiene, Inez Myin-Germeys, Jaana Suvisaari, Sophie E. Legge, Roel A. Ophoff, Philippe Corcia, Gerald Nestadt, Stephan Ripke, Kuang Lin, Paola Giusti-Rodríguez, Michael John Owen, Chris C. A. Spencer, Safa Saker-Delye, Robert W. McCarley, Kimberley D. Chambert, Brandon Wormley, Isabella Fogh, Mamede de Carvalho, Pamela J. Shaw, Tõnu Esko, Ronald Y. L. Chan, Jianjun Liu, Tim B. Bigdeli, Christian R. Andres, David M. Hougaard, Michael Gill, Ammar Al-Chalabi, Colm O'Dushlaine, Rick A.A. van der Spek, Gary Donohoe, Tao Li, Jonathan D. Glass, Christopher Shaw, Draga Toncheva, Leonard H. van den Berg, Liene Nikitina-Zake, Morten Mattingsdal, François Salachas, Andrey Khrunin, Line Olsen, Jochen H. Weishaupt, Jo Knight, Katie Sidle, Filip Eftimov, Massimiliano Filosto, Russell L. McLaughlin, Pak C. Sham, Joshua L. Roffman, Thomas Hansen, Naser Durmishi, Deborah A. Nertney, Juha Karjalainen, Robert Swingler, Ditte Demontis, Vaidutis Kučinskas, Jennifer L. Moran, Leo McCluskey, Donald W. Black, Eric F.C. Cheung, Qiang Wang, Olli Pietilainen, Vera Golimbet, Anna K. Kähler, Clement C. Zai, Nigel Williams, Annelie Nordin, Wolfgang Maier, Bradley N. Smith, Ettore Beghi, Rosa Capozzo, Garth A. Nicholson, Markus M. Nöuthen, Jordan W. Smoller, Eric Y.H. Chen, Joseph D. Buxbaum, Letizia Mazzini, Andrea Malaspina, Antonio Julià, Stephanie Williams, Tracey L. Petryshen, Christine Payan, Johan G. Eriksson, Carmel M. Loughland, Elodie Drapeau, Lieuwe de Haan, Martin Begemann, Lukas Tittmann, Franziska Degenhardt, Mark Reimers, Jurgen Del Favero, Jacqueline I. Goldstein, Annelot M. Dekker, Sergi Papiol, Svetlana A. Limborska, René S. Kahn, Shuna Colville, Kelly L. Williams, Pamela Sklar, Diana O. Perkins, Lili Milani, Ayman H. Fanous, Nicola Ticozzi, Fernando Rivadeneira, Marianne de Visser, P. Nigel Leigh, James T.R. Walters, Josef Frank, Aiden Corvin, Silviu Alin Bacanu, John L. Waddington, Stephanie H. Witt, Tiina Paunio, Margot Albus, Catherine Lomen-Hoerth, Sara Marsal, Per Hoffmann, David Curtis, Cindy Maurel, Todd Lencz, Orietta Pansarasa, Manuel Mattheisen, Anneke J. van der Kooi, A. Hofman, Dermot Walsh, Hailiang Huang, Ann Olincy, Anders D. Børglum, Ricardo Rojas-García, William Sproviero, Albert C. Ludolph, Edward M. Scolnick, Danielle Posthuma, George N. Papadimitriou, Michael A. van Es, Fritz Zimprich, F. Anthony O'Neill, Lude Franke, Jouko Lönnqvist, Daniel G. Bradley, Sven Cichon, Susanna Abdulla, Kristel R. van Eijk, Ingrid Agartz, Elisabetta Pupillo, Milica Pejovic-Milovancevic, Antonia Ratti, Henrik B. Rasmussen, Kari Stefansson, Brendan Bulik-Sullivan, Béla Melegh, Stéphanie Millecamps, Janis Klovins, Enrico Domenici, Michael Sendtner, Kai-How Farh, Randy L. Buckner, Albert Hofman, Benjamin M. Neale, Naomi R. Wray, An Goris, Kang Sim, Lauren Elman, Giulio Genovese, Jens R. Wendland, Rita M. Cantor, Ariel Darvasi, Christina M. Hultman, Sandra D'Alfonso, Cristina Moglia, Carlos N. Pato, Sena Karachanak-Yankova, Nicholas John Craddock, Richard W. Orrell, Richard Bruggeman, Kenneth S. Kendler, Alan M. Pittman, Robin M. Murray, Richard E. Straub, Cathryn M. Lewis, Srdjan Djurovic, Vincent Meininger, Jeffrey A. Lieberman, Bertram Müller-Myhsok, Phil Lee, David J. Kavanagh, Srihari Gopal, Igor Nenadic, Matthew C. Keller, Christian R. Schubert, Jacob Gratten, Alexandra Durr, Roger Pamphlett, Douglas F. Levinson, Luba Kalaydjieva, Chiara Zecca, Anil K. Malhotra, Andre Franke, Vaughan J. Carr, Steven A. McCarroll, C. Robert Cloninger, Judit Bene, Ina Giegling, Wei Cheng, Hualin Simon Xi, Thomas Werge, Eric Strengman, Susanne Petri, Engilbert Sigurdsson, Mark Hansen, Patrick F. Sullivan, Kieran C. Murphy, Inge Joa, Complex Trait Genetics, McLaughlin, Russell L, Schijven, Dick, Van Rheenen, Wouter, Van Eijk, Kristel R, O'Brien, Margaret, Kahn, René S, Ophoff, Roel A, Goris, An, Bradley, Daniel G, Al-Chalabi, Ammar, Van Den Berg, Leonard H, Luykx, Jurjen J, Hardiman, Orla, Veldink, Jan H, Lee, S Hong, Project MinE GWAS Consortium, Schizophrenia Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, Centre of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics, Aarno Palotie / Principal Investigator, Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Genomics of Neurological and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Kučinskas, Vaidutis, Kučinskienė, Zita Aušrelė, Other departments, Neurology, APH - Mental Health, Amsterdam Neuroscience - Mood, Anxiety, Psychosis, Stress & Sleep, Adult Psychiatry, Schizophrenia Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortiumz, Germeys, Inez, Robberecht, Wim, and Van Damme, Philip

Subjects
0301 basic medicine, Oncology, Genetics and Molecular Biology (all), Linkage disequilibrium, Multifactorial Inheritance, General Physics and Astronomy, Genome-wide association study, Comorbidity, VARIANTS, Neurodegenerative, Biochemistry, DISEASE, 3124 Neurology and psychiatry, Linkage Disequilibrium, Cohort Studies, 0302 clinical medicine, Genetics research, Odds Ratio, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Aetiology, ARCHITECTURE, Schizophrenia Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, Multidisciplinary, Chemistry (all), Motor neuron disease, Schizophrenia, BIPOLAR DISORDER, Single Nucleotide, Serious Mental Illness, 3. Good health, Mental Health, RC0346, motor neuron disease, Project MinE GWAS Consortium, medicine.medical_specialty, SUSCEPTIBILITY LOCI, Science, European Continental Ancestry Group, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, Article, White People, 03 medical and health sciences, Physics and Astronomy (all), Rare Diseases, SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being, Clinical Research, Internal medicine, MD Multidisciplinary, mental disorders, medicine, Genetics, Journal Article, Humans, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Family, Bipolar disorder, GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION, Polymorphism, Biology, METAANALYSIS, business.industry, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Human Genome, Case-control study, 3112 Neurosciences, Neurosciences, General Chemistry, Odds ratio, medicine.disease, R1, Brain Disorders, 030104 developmental biology, genetics research, Case-Control Studies, RC0321, Linear Models, PLEIOTROPY, Human medicine, 3111 Biomedicine, Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (all), ALS, business, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, Genome-Wide Association Study
Abstract

We have previously shown higher-than-expected rates of schizophrenia in relatives of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), suggesting an aetiological relationship between the diseases. Here, we investigate the genetic relationship between ALS and schizophrenia using genome-wide association study data from over 100,000 unique individuals. Using linkage disequilibrium score regression, we estimate the genetic correlation between ALS and schizophrenia to be 14.3% (7.05–21.6; P=1 × 10−4) with schizophrenia polygenic risk scores explaining up to 0.12% of the variance in ALS (P=8.4 × 10−7). A modest increase in comorbidity of ALS and schizophrenia is expected given these findings (odds ratio 1.08–1.26) but this would require very large studies to observe epidemiologically. We identify five potential novel ALS-associated loci using conditional false discovery rate analysis. It is likely that shared neurobiological mechanisms between these two disorders will engender novel hypotheses in future preclinical and clinical studies., Relatives of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis have an unexpectedly high incidence of schizophrenia. Here, the authors show a genetic link between the two conditions, suggesting shared neurobiological mechanisms.

Published
2017

31. Overlapping phenotypes in complex spastic paraplegias SPG11, SPG15, SPG35 and SPG48

Author

Marica Eoli, Davide Pareyson, Paola Soliveri, Claudia Ciano, Lorenzo Nanetti, Luisa Chiapparini, Caterina Mariotti, Franco Taroni, Elena Lamperti, Barbara Castellotti, Cinzia Gellera, Ettore Salsano, Viviana Pensato, Isabella Moroni, Giuseppe Piscosquito, Daniela Di Bella, and Elisa Sarto

Subjects
Adult, Male, medicine.medical_specialty, Pathology, Adolescent, Hereditary spastic paraplegia, Corpus callosum, Severity of Illness Index, Mixed Function Oxygenases, White matter, Young Adult, Molecular genetics, Spastic, Humans, Medicine, Child, Spastic Paraplegia, Hereditary, business.industry, Genetic heterogeneity, Brain, Genetic Variation, Proteins, Middle Aged, medicine.disease, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Hyperintensity, Phenotype, medicine.anatomical_structure, Child, Preschool, Corticospinal tract, Female, Neurology (clinical), Carrier Proteins, business
Abstract

Hereditary spastic paraplegias are a heterogeneous group of neurodegenerative disorders, clinically classified in pure and complex forms. Genetically, more than 70 different forms of spastic paraplegias have been characterized. A subgroup of complicate recessive forms has been distinguished for the presence of thin corpus callosum and white matter lesions at brain imaging. This group includes several genetic entities, but most of the cases are caused by mutations in the KIAA1840 (SPG11) and ZFYVE26 genes (SPG15). We studied a cohort of 61 consecutive patients with complicated spastic paraplegias, presenting at least one of the following features: mental retardation, thin corpus callosum and/or white matter lesions. DNA samples were screened for mutations in the SPG11/KIAA1840, SPG15/ZFYVE26, SPG21/ACP33, SPG35/FA2H, SPG48/AP5Z1 and SPG54/DDHD2 genes by direct sequencing. Sequence variants were found in 30 of 61 cases: 16 patients carried SPG11/KIAA1840 gene variants (26.2%), nine patients carried SPG15/ZFYVE26 variants (14.8%), three patients SPG35/FA2H (5%), and two patients carried SPG48/AP5Z1 gene variants (3%). Mean age at onset was similar in patients with SPG11 and with SPG15 (range 11-36), and the phenotype was mostly indistinguishable. Extrapyramidal signs were observed only in patients with SPG15, and epilepsy in three subjects with SPG11. Motor axonal neuropathy was found in 60% of cases with SPG11 and 70% of cases with SPG15. Subjects with SPG35 had intellectual impairment, spastic paraplegia, thin corpus callosum, white matter hyperintensities, and cerebellar atrophy. Two families had a late-onset presentation, and none had signs of brain iron accumulation. The patients with SPG48 were a 5-year-old child, homozygous for a missense SPG48/AP5Z1 variant, and a 51-year-old female, carrying two different nonsense variants. Both patients had intellectual deficits, thin corpus callosum and white matter lesions. None of the cases in our cohort carried mutations in the SPG21/ACP33 and SPG54/DDH2H genes. Our study confirms that the phenotype of patients with SPG11 and with SPG15 is homogeneous, whereas cases with SPG35 and with SPG48 cases present overlapping features, and a broader clinical spectrum. The large group of non-diagnosed subjects (51%) suggests further genetic heterogeneity. The observation of common clinical features in association with defects in different causative genes, suggest a general vulnerability of the corticospinal tract axons to a wide spectrum of cellular alterations.

Published
2014

32. Genome-wide association analyses identify new risk variants and the genetic architecture of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Author

Aleksey Shatunov, An Goris, John Hardy, Thomas F. Meyer, Sandra D'Alfonso, Christian A. Hübner, Karol Estrada, Susana Pinto, Cristina Moglia, Perry T.C. van Doormaal, Simona Arcuti, Thomas Meitinger, Siddharthan Chandran, Kim A. Staats, Cinzia Bertolin, Peter M. Andersen, Ricardo Rojas-García, William Sproviero, Katie Sidle, François Salachas, Robert Swingler, Anna M. Blokhuis, Thomas M. Ringer, Emily P. McCann, Garth A. Nicholson, Lude Franke, Sven Cichon, Julian Grosskreutz, Markus M. Nöthen, Bernhard Landwehrmeyer, Lukas Tittmann, Jennifer A. Fifita, Christian R. Andres, Alice Vajda, Viviana Pensato, Lauren Elman, Gijs H.P. Tazelaar, Christian Lunetta, Patrick Vourc'h, Christopher Shaw, Gilbert Bensimon, Orla Hardiman, Kuang Lin, Pamela J. Shaw, Alessandro Padovani, Massimiliano Filosto, Jan H. Veldink, Boris Rogelj, Giacomo P. Comi, Matthew C. Kiernan, Philippe Corcia, Giancarlo Logroscino, Ammar Al-Chalabi, Blaž Koritnik, Safaa Saker-Delye, Ian P. Blair, Alexis Brice, Jochen H. Weishaupt, Gianni Sorarù, Maura Brunetti, Alan M. Pittman, Vincenzo Silani, Cindy Maurel, Alexandra Durr, Catherine Lomen-Hoerth, Matthew R. Robinson, Russell L. McLaughlin, Martina Wiedau-Pazos, Chiara Zecca, Nilo Riva, Ashley R. Jones, Andre Franke, Tune H. Pers, Roberto Del Bo, Dominic B. Rowe, Susanne Petri, Sara L. Pulit, John Q. Trojanowski, Wim Robberecht, Christine Payan, Otto W. Witte, Katharine Y. Zhang, Jesus S. Mora, Rick A.A. van der Spek, Urmo Võsa, Kevin P. Kenna, Marcella Rietschel, Milena Radivojkov-Blagojevic, Tino Prell, Philip Van Damme, Leja Dolenc Grošelj, Androniki Menelaou, Beatrice Stubendorff, Cristina Cereda, Kristel R. van Eijk, Leo McCluskey, Jean-François Dartigues, Rosa Capozzo, Markus Weber, Cinzia Tiloca, Michael A. van Es, Wouter van Rheenen, Paul I.W. de Bakker, Carsten Drepper, Bradley N. Smith, Ettore Beghi, Jian Yang, Peter M. Visscher, Hamid Hamzeiy, John Landers, A. Nazli Basak, Hylke M. Blauw, Annelot M. Dekker, Richard W. Orrell, Silvana Penco, Fernando Rivadeneira, Marianne de Visser, Ceren Tunca, Cathryn M. Lewis, Vincent Meininger, Andrea Malaspina, Raymond D. Schellevis, Leonard H. van den Berg, Rosanna Tortelli, Shuna Colville, Anneke J. van der Kooi, Ingo Kurth, Roger Pamphlett, Stéphanie Millecamps, Janez Zidar, Michael Sendtner, Simone de Jong, Roel A. Ophoff, Mamede de Carvalho, Karen E. Morrison, Robbert Jan Stuit, Letizia Mazzini, Jonathan D. Glass, Yesim Parman, Albert Hofman, Lea Leonardis, Naomi R. Wray, Meraida Polak, William J. Brands, Susanne Abdulla, Bernard Muller, Cinzia Gellera, Max Koppers, Pietro Fratta, John Powell, Charles Curtis, Peter Lichtner, Frank P. Diekstra, Adriano Chiò, Isabella Fogh, Federico Casale, Nicholas W. Wood, Katarina Vrabec, André G. Uitterlinden, Vivianna M. Van Deerlin, Gerome Breen, Wolfgang Lieb, Oliver Harschnitz, Nicola Ticozzi, P. Nigel Leigh, R. Jeroen Pasterkamp, Simon Topp, Metka Ravnik-Glavač, Christophe Tzourio, Robert H. Brown, Andrea Calvo, Orietta Pansarasa, Jelena Medic, Albert C. Ludolph, Elisabetta Pupillo, Antonia Ratti, Philippe Amouyel, Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa, Groningen Institute for Gastro Intestinal Genetics and Immunology (3GI), Stem Cell Aging Leukemia and Lymphoma (SALL), Erasmus MC other, Pediatric Surgery, Internal Medicine, Epidemiology, Neurology, and ANS - Neurodegeneration

Subjects
0301 basic medicine, Population, EFFICIENT, Genome-wide association study, Locus (genetics), Biology, SUSCEPTIBILITY, SEQUENCE, Article, Cohort Studies, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Munc18 Proteins, medicine, Journal Article, Genetics, Humans, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Comparative Study, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, education, POPULATION, Genetic association, Netherlands, PITFALLS, education.field_of_study, HEXANUCLEOTIDE REPEAT, COMPLEX, Project MinE, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Proteins, PATHWAYS, FRONTOTEMPORAL DEMENTIA, medicine.disease, Genetic architecture, Cytoskeletal Proteins, 030104 developmental biology, Case-Control Studies, Mutation, ALS, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, Imputation (genetics), Myelin Proteins, Genome-Wide Association Study
Abstract

Copyright © 2016, Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited. All Rights Reserved., To elucidate the genetic architecture of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and find associated loci, we assembled a custom imputation reference panel from whole-genome-sequenced patients with ALS and matched controls (n = 1,861). Through imputation and mixed-model association analysis in 12,577 cases and 23,475 controls, combined with 2,579 cases and 2,767 controls in an independent replication cohort, we fine-mapped a new risk locus on chromosome 21 and identified C21orf2 as a gene associated with ALS risk. In addition, we identified MOBP and SCFD1 as new associated risk loci. We established evidence of ALS being a complex genetic trait with a polygenic architecture. Furthermore, we estimated the SNP-based heritability at 8.5%, with a distinct and important role for low-frequency variants (frequency 1-10%). This study motivates the interrogation of larger samples with full genome coverage to identify rare causal variants that underpin ALS risk.

Published
2016

33. ASAH1 variant causing a mild SMA phenotype with no myoclonic epilepsy: a clinical, biochemical and molecular study

Author

Viviana Pensato, Mirella Filocamo, Massimiliano Filosto, Alessandro Padovani, Manuela Valsecchi, Fabrizio Rinaldi, Domitilla Schiumarini, Silvia Rota, Susanna Lualdi, Massimo Aureli, Raffaella Mazzotti, Barbara Castellotti, and Cinzia Gellera

Subjects
0301 basic medicine, Adult, medicine.medical_specialty, Adolescent, Acid Ceramidase, Mutation, Missense, Epilepsies, Myoclonic, Progressive myoclonus epilepsy, Biology, Article, Muscular Atrophy, Spinal, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Pregnancy, Internal medicine, Correspondence, Genetics, medicine, Humans, Genetics (clinical), Cells, Cultured, Farber disease, Siblings, Homozygote, Spinal muscular atrophy, medicine.disease, SMA, 030104 developmental biology, Endocrinology, Phenotype, Ceramidase activity, ASAH1, Myoclonic epilepsy, Female, medicine.symptom, Myoclonus, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Abstract

ASAH1 gene encodes for acid ceramidase that is involved in the degradation of ceramide into sphingosine and free fatty acids within lysosomes. ASAH1 variants cause both the severe and early-onset Farber disease and rare cases of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) with progressive myoclonic epilepsy (SMA-PME), phenotypically characterized by childhood onset of proximal muscle weakness and atrophy due to spinal motor neuron degeneration followed by occurrence of severe and intractable myoclonic seizures and death in the teenage years. We studied two subjects, a 30-year-old pregnant woman and her 17-year-old sister, affected with a very slowly progressive non-5q SMA since childhood. No history of seizures or myoclonus has been reported and EEG was unremarkable. The molecular study of ASAH1 gene showed the presence of the homozygote nucleotide variation c.124A>G (r.124a>g) that causes the amino acid substitution p.Thr42Ala. Biochemical evaluation of cultured fibroblasts showed both reduction in ceramidase activity and accumulation of ceramide compared with the normal control. This study describes for the first time the association between ASAH1 variants and an adult SMA phenotype with no myoclonic epilepsy nor death in early age, thus expanding the phenotypic spectrum of ASAH1-related SMA. ASAH1 molecular analysis should be considered in the diagnostic testing of non-5q adult SMA patients.

Published
2016

34. Exome-wide rare variant analysis identifies TUBA4A mutations associated with familial ALS

Author

Bradley N. Smith, Nicola Ticozzi, Claudia Fallini, Athina Soragia Gkazi, Simon Topp, Kevin P. Kenna, Emma L. Scotter, Jason Kost, Pamela Keagle, Jack W. Miller, Daniela Calini, Caroline Vance, Eric W. Danielson, Claire Troakes, Cinzia Tiloca, Safa Al-Sarraj, Elizabeth A. Lewis, Andrew King, Claudia Colombrita, Viviana Pensato, Barbara Castellotti, Jacqueline de Belleroche, Frank Baas, Anneloor LMA ten Asbroek, Peter C. Sapp, Diane McKenna-Yasek, Russell L. McLaughlin, Meraida Polak, Seneshaw Asress, Jesús Esteban-Pérez, José Luis Muñoz-Blanco, Michael Simpson, Wouter van Rheenen, Frank P. Diekstra, Giuseppe Lauria, Stefano Duga, Stefania Corti, Cristina Cereda, Lucia Corrado, Gianni Sorarù, Karen E. Morrison, Kelly L. Williams, Garth A. Nicholson, Ian P. Blair, Patrick A. Dion, Claire S. Leblond, Guy A. Rouleau, Orla Hardiman, Jan H. Veldink, Leonard H. van den Berg, Ammar Al-Chalabi, Hardev Pall, Pamela J. Shaw, Martin R. Turner, Kevin Talbot, Franco Taroni, Alberto García-Redondo, Zheyang Wu, Jonathan D. Glass, Cinzia Gellera, Antonia Ratti, Robert H. Brown, Vincenzo Silani, Christopher E. Shaw, John E. Landers, Sandra D’Alfonso, Letizia Mazzini, Giacomo P. Comi, Roberto Del Bo, Mauro Ceroni, Stella Gagliardi, Giorgia Querin, Cinzia Bertolin, ANS - Amsterdam Neuroscience, Genome Analysis, and Human Genetics

Subjects
Neurons, Genetics, Mutation, Sequence analysis, General Neuroscience, Neuroscience(all), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Brain, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Disease, Biology, medicine.disease, medicine.disease_cause, Article, Tubulin, medicine, Missense mutation, Humans, Exome, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Gene, Exome sequencing
Abstract

SummaryExome sequencing is an effective strategy for identifying human disease genes. However, this methodology is difficult in late-onset diseases where limited availability of DNA from informative family members prohibits comprehensive segregation analysis. To overcome this limitation, we performed an exome-wide rare variant burden analysis of 363 index cases with familial ALS (FALS). The results revealed an excess of patient variants within TUBA4A, the gene encoding the Tubulin, Alpha 4A protein. Analysis of a further 272 FALS cases and 5,510 internal controls confirmed the overrepresentation as statistically significant and replicable. Functional analyses revealed that TUBA4A mutants destabilize the microtubule network, diminishing its repolymerization capability. These results further emphasize the role of cytoskeletal defects in ALS and demonstrate the power of gene-based rare variant analyses in situations where causal genes cannot be identified through traditional segregation analysis.Video Abstract

Published
2014

35. SETX mutations are a frequent genetic cause of juvenile and adult onset cerebellar ataxia with neuropathy and elevated serum alpha-fetoprotein

Author

Isabella Moroni, Davide Pareyson, Alfredo Brusco, Giovanna Zorzi, Viviana Pensato, Carlo Antozzi, Lorenzo Nanetti, Simona Cavalieri, Cinzia Gellera, Alessandra Erbetta, Marta Panzeri, and Caterina Mariotti

Subjects
Male, Pathology, Recessive ataxia, Genetics(clinical), Pharmacology (medical), Age of Onset, Oculomotor apraxia, Genetics (clinical), Medicine(all), Genetics, education.field_of_study, SETX, Ataxia with Oculomotor Apraxia type 2, AOA2, ATM, Alpha-fetoprotein, Ataxia telangiectasia, General Medicine, Middle Aged, Pedigree, Phenotype, Italy, Recessive ataxias, Female, alpha-Fetoproteins, medicine.symptom, RNA Helicases, Adult, medicine.medical_specialty, Ataxia, Adolescent, Cerebellar Ataxia, Apraxias, Population, aptX, Biology, Ataxia Telangiectasia, Young Adult, medicine, Humans, Family, education, Aged, Cerebellar ataxia, Research, DNA Helicases, medicine.disease, Multifunctional Enzymes, Mutation, Ataxia-telangiectasia, Gait Ataxia, Age of onset, Hypoalbuminemia
Abstract

Objectives/backgroundAtaxia with oculomotor apraxia defines a group of genetically distinct recessive ataxias including ataxia-telangectasia (A-T,ATMgene), ataxia with oculomotor apraxia type 1 (AOA1,APTXgene) and type 2 (AOA2,SETXgene). Although, a few unique clinical features differentiate each of these forms, the patients also share common clinical signs, such as the presence of cerebellar atrophy, sensorimotor axonal neuropathy, and elevated alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) serum level.Materials and methodsWe selected 22 Italian patients from 21 families, presenting progressive cerebellar ataxia, axonal neuropathy, and elevated serum AFP. We screened the coding regions ofATM,APTXandSETXgenes for point mutations by direct sequencing or DHPLC, and searched genomic rearrangements inSETXby MLPA analysis. In selected cases, quantification of ATM and senataxin proteins was performed by Western blot. Clinical, neurophysiological, and neuroimaging data were collected.ResultsThirteen patients (12 families) carriedSETXmutations (AOA2, 57%), two were mutated inATM(A-T), and three inAPTX(AOA1). In three remaining patients, we could not find pathogenic mutations, and in one case we found, in homozygosis, theSETXp.K992R polymorphism (population frequency 1-2%). In AOA2 cases, we identified 14 novel and three reportedSETXmutations. Signs at onset were gait ataxia and facial dyskinesia, and the age ranged between 11 and 18 years. None had obvious oculomotor apraxia at the latest examination (age 14–45 years). The patient carrying the p.K992RSETXpolymorphism had a phenotype similar to that of the diagnosed AOA2 patients, while the other three undiagnosed subjects had a very late onset and a few distinguishing clinical features.Discussion and conclusionsWe describe a large series of 13 AOA2 Italian patients. The phenotype was consistent with previous descriptions of AOA2, except for a higher frequency of strabism, and for the absence of oculomotor apraxia. In our survey ~60% of juvenile-to-adult cases with cerebellar ataxia, sensorimotor neuropathy and increased AFP are due to mutations in theSETXgene, and a smaller percentage toAPTXandATMgene mutations.

Published
2013

36. Ubiquilin 2 mutations in Italian patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia

Author

Cinzia Gellera, Cinzia Tiloca, Roberto Del Bo, Lucia Corrado, Viviana Pensato, Jennifer Agostini, Cristina Cereda, Antonia Ratti, Barbara Castellotti, Stefania Corti, Alessandra Bagarotti, Annachiara Cagnin, Pamela Milani, Carlo Gabelli, Giulietta Riboldi, Letizia Mazzini, Gianni Sorarù, Sandra D'Alfonso, Franco Taroni, Giacomo Pietro Comi, Nicola Ticozzi, Vincenzo Silani, and The SLAGEN Consortium

Subjects
Male, Pathology, medicine.medical_specialty, Neuromuscular disease, Autophagy-Related Proteins, Cell Cycle Proteins, White People, UBQLN2, mental disorders, medicine, Coding region, Dementia, Humans, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Gene, Ubiquitins, Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing, Genetics, biology, business.industry, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Middle Aged, medicine.disease, Psychiatry and Mental health, Italy, Frontotemporal Dementia, Mutation, biology.protein, Surgery, Female, Neurology (clinical), business, Motor neurone disease, Frontotemporal dementia
Abstract

Objectives Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease mainly involving cortical and spinal motor neurones. Molecular studies have recently identified different mutations in the ubiquilin-2 ( UBQLN2 ) gene as causative of a familial form of X-linked ALS, 90% penetrant in women. The aim of our study was to analyse the UBQLN2 gene in a large cohort of patients with familial (FALS) and sporadic (SALS) amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, with or without frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and in patients with FTD. Methods We analysed the UBQLN2 gene in 819 SALS cases, 226 FALS cases, 53 ALS–FTD patients, and 63 patients with a clinical record of FTD. Molecular analysis of the entire coding sequence was carried out in all FALS and ALS–FTD patients, while SALS and FTD patients were analysed specifically for the genomic region coding for the PXX repeat tract. Healthy controls were 845 anonymous blood donors and were screened for the PXX repeat region only. Results We found five different variants in the UBQLN2 gene in five unrelated ALS patients. Three variants, including two novel ones, involved a proline residue in the PXX repeat region and were found in three FALS cases. The other two were novel variants, identified in one FALS and one SALS patient. None of these variants was present in controls, while one control carried a new heterozygous variant. Conclusions Our data support the role of the UBQLN2 gene in the pathogenesis of FALS, being conversely a rare genetic cause in SALS even when complicated by FTD.

Published
2012

37. C9ORF72 repeat expansion in a large Italian ALS cohort: evidence of a founder effect

Author

Cinzia Tiloca, Isabella Fogh, G.D. Oggioni, Letizia Mazzini, Viviana Pensato, Daniela Calini, Cristina Cereda, Kuang Lin, Barbara Castellotti, Stefania Corti, Mauro Ceroni, Vincenzo Silani, Cinzia Gellera, Roberto Del Bo, Antonia Ratti, Giacomo P. Comi, Stella Gagliardi, Franco Taroni, Nicola Ticozzi, John Powell, Michela Ranieri, Gianni Sorarù, Sandra D'Alfonso, Lucia Corrado, C. D'Ascenzo, and Alessandra Bagarotti

Subjects
Adult, Male, Risk, Mild Cognitive Impairment, Aging, C9ORF72, Single-nucleotide polymorphism, Biology, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Frontotemporal dementia, Haplotype analysis, Mutation analysis, Repeat expansion, Age of Onset, Aged, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Basal Ganglia Diseases, Cerebellar Diseases, Cohort Studies, DNA Repeat Expansion, Female, Genetic Testing, Haplotypes, Humans, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Proteins, Sex Factors, Founder Effect, Neuroscience (all), Medicine (all), Developmental Biology, Geriatrics and Gerontology, Neurology (clinical), C9orf72, Genotype, medicine, Cognitive Dysfunction, Polymorphism, Genetics, C9orf72 Protein, General Neuroscience, Haplotype, Single Nucleotide, medicine.disease, Penetrance, Trinucleotide repeat expansion, Founder effect
Abstract

A hexanucleotide repeat expansion (RE) in C9ORF72 gene was recently reported as the main cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and cases with frontotemporal dementia. We screened C9ORF72 in a large cohort of 259 familial ALS, 1275 sporadic ALS, and 862 control individuals of Italian descent. We found RE in 23.9% familial ALS, 5.1% sporadic ALS, and 0.2% controls. Two cases carried the RE together with mutations in other ALS-associated genes. The phenotype of RE carriers was characterized by bulbar-onset, shorter survival, and association with cognitive and behavioral impairment. Extrapyramidal and cerebellar signs were also observed in few patients. Genotype data revealed that 95% of RE carriers shared a restricted 10-single nucleotide polymorphism haplotype within the previously reported 20-single nucleotide polymorphism risk haplotype, detectable in only 27% of nonexpanded ALS cases and in 28% of controls, suggesting a common founder with cohorts of North European ancestry. Although C9ORF72 RE segregates with disease, the identification of RE both in controls and in patients carrying additional pathogenic mutations suggests that penetrance and phenotypic expression of C9ORF72 RE may depend on additional genetic risk factors.

Published
2012

38. Preferential expression of mutant ABCD1 allele is common in adrenoleukodystrophy female carriers but unrelated to clinical symptoms

Author

Caterina Mariotti, Graziella Uziel, Patrizia Colapietro, Barbara Castellotti, Viviana Pensato, Cinzia Gellera, Ettore Salsano, Davide Pareyson, Monica Miozzo, Silvia Tabano, Silvia M. Sirchia, and Marco Rimoldi

Subjects
Adult, Spastic gait, Mutant, lcsh:Medicine, X Chromosome inactivation, Biology, ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily D, Member 1, Allele-specific expression, X-inactivation, Young Adult, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, medicine, Humans, Genetics(clinical), Pharmacology (medical), Allele, Adrenoleukodystrophy, Alleles, ABCD1, Genetics (clinical), X chromosome, Aged, 030304 developmental biology, Medicine(all), Regulation of gene expression, Genetics, Chromosomes, Human, X, 0303 health sciences, Research, lcsh:R, General Medicine, Middle Aged, medicine.disease, Phenotype, Molecular biology, Gene Expression Regulation, X-linked Adrenoleukodystrophy, Mutation, ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters, Female, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Abstract

Background Approximately 20% of adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) female carriers may develop clinical manifestations, typically consisting of progressive spastic gait, sensory deficits and bladder dysfunctions. A skewing in X Chromosome Inactivation (XCI), leading to the preferential expression of the X chromosome carrying the mutant ABCD1 allele, has been proposed as a mechanism influencing X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) carrier phenotype, but reported data so far are conflicting. Methods To shed light into this topic we assessed the XCI pattern in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of 30 X-ALD carriers. Since a frequent problem with XCI studies is the underestimation of skewing due to an incomplete sample digestion by restriction enzymes, leading to variable results, we developed a pyrosequencing assay to identify samples completely digested, on which to perform the XCI assay. Pyrosequencing was also used to quantify ABCD1 allele-specific expression. Moreover, very long-chain fatty acid (VLCFA) levels were determined in the same patients. Results We found severely (≥90:10) or moderately (≥75:25) skewed XCI in 23 out of 30 (77%) X-ALD carriers and proved that preferential XCI is mainly associated with the preferential expression of the mutant ABCD1 allele, irrespective of the manifestation of symptoms. The expression of mutant ABCD1 allele also correlates with plasma VLCFA concentrations. Conclusions Our results indicate that preferential XCI leads to the favored expression of the mutant ABCD1 allele. This emerges as a general phenomenon in X-ALD carriers not related to the presence of symptoms. Our data support the postulated growth advantage of cells with the preferential expression of the mutant ABCD1 allele, but argue against the use of XCI pattern, ABCD1 allele-specific expression pattern and VLCFA plasma concentration as biomarkers to predict the development of symptoms in X-ALD carriers.

Published
2012

39. Novel optineurin mutations in patients with familial and sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Author

Cinzia Tiloca, Lucia Corrado, Gianni Sorarù, R. Del Bo, Giacomo P. Comi, Cristina Cereda, Vincenzo Silani, C. Gellera, Viviana Pensato, Sandra D'Alfonso, Letizia Mazzini, Stefania Corti, Nicola Ticozzi, Antonia Ratti, and Barbara Castellotti

Subjects
Heterozygote, Neuromuscular disease, RNA Splicing, DNA Mutational Analysis, SOD1, Cell Cycle Proteins, Genes, Recessive, TARDBP, Cohort Studies, Transcription Factor TFIIIA, medicine, Humans, Missense mutation, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Genes, Dominant, Optineurin, Family Health, Genetics, Models, Genetic, business.industry, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Membrane Transport Proteins, medicine.disease, Psychiatry and Mental health, Italy, Mutation, Surgery, Neurology (clinical), Age of onset, business, Motor neurone disease
Abstract

Background Optineurin ( OPTN ), a causative gene of hereditary primary open-angle glaucoma, has been recently associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) with mainly autosomal recessive, but also dominant, traits. To further define the contribution of OPTN gene in ALS, we performed a mutational screening in a large cohort of Italian patients. Methods A group of 274 ALS patients, including 161 familial (FALS) and 113 sporadic (SALS) cases, were screened for OPTN mutations by direct sequencing of its coding sequence. All patients fulfilled the El Escorial criteria for probable or definite ALS and were negative for mutations in SOD1 , ANG , TARDBP and FUS/TLS genes. Results The genetic analysis revealed six novel variants in both FALS and SALS patients, all occurring in an heterozygous state. We identified three missense (c.844A→C p.T282P, c.941A→T p.Q314L, c.1670A→C p.K557T), one nonsense (c.67G→T p.G23X) and two intronic mutations (c.552+1delG, c.1401+4A→G). The intronic c.552+1delG variant determined a splicing defect as demonstrated by mRNA analysis. All mutations were absent in 280 Italian controls and over 6800 worldwide glaucoma patients and controls screened so far. The clinical phenotype of OPTN -mutated patients was heterogeneous for both age of onset and disease duration but characterised by lower-limb onset and prevalence of upper motor neuron signs. Conclusion In this cohort, OPTN mutations were present both in FALS (2/161), accounting for 1.2% cases, and in SALS patients (4/113), thereby extending the spectrum of OPTN mutations associated with ALS. The study further supports the possible pathological role of optineurin protein in motor neuron disease.

Published
2011

40. Mutations of FUS gene in sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Author

Vincenzo Silani, Gianni Sorarù, S. Ghezzi, Cristina Cereda, Viviana Pensato, Gabriele Siciliano, Giacomo P. Comi, Lorena Cozzi, Michelangelo Mancuso, Claudia Colombrita, Silvana Penco, Barbara Castellotti, Antonia Ratti, Sandra D'Alfonso, Roberto Del Bo, Mauro Ceroni, Cinzia Gellera, Letizia Mazzini, Valeria Orsetti, Lucia Corrado, Yari Carlomagno, and Stella Gagliardi

Subjects
Adult, Male, medicine.medical_specialty, Neuromuscular disease, DNA Mutational Analysis, Mutation, Missense, Biology, Gene mutation, medicine.disease_cause, Exon, Molecular genetics, parasitic diseases, Genetics, medicine, Missense mutation, Humans, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetic Testing, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Genetics (clinical), Aged, Mutation, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Middle Aged, medicine.disease, Italy, Case-Control Studies, RNA-Binding Protein FUS, Female, Motor neurone disease
Abstract

Background Mutations in the FUS gene have recently been discovered to be a major cause of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FALS). Objective To determine the identity and frequency of FUS gene mutations in a large cohort of Italian patients enriched in sporadic cases (SALS). Methods Exons 5, 6, 14 and 15 of the FUS gene were screened for mutations in 1009 patients (45 FALS and 964 SALS). The genetic analysis was extended to the entire coding sequence of FUS in all the FALS and 293 of the SALS patients. Results Seven missense mutations (p.G191S, p.R216C, p.G225V, p.G230C, p.R234C, p.G507D and p.R521C) were identified in nine patients (seven SALS and two FALS), and none in 500 healthy Italian controls. All mutations are novel except for the p.R521C mutation identified in one SALS and one FALS case. Both patients showed a similar unusual presentation, with proximal, mostly symmetrical, upper limb weakness, with neck and axial involvement. With the exception of p.G507D and p.R521C, the mutations identified in SALS patients are all localised in the glycine-rich region encoded by exon 6. In addition, eight different in-frame deletions in two polyglycine motifs were detected, the frequency of which was not significantly different in patients and controls. Conclusions The results show that FUS missense mutations are present in 0.7% of Italian SALS cases, and confirm the previous mutational frequency reported in FALS (4.4%). An unusual proximal and axial clinical presentation seems to be associated with the presence of the p.R521C mutation.

Published
2010

41. PEX7Mutations Cause Congenital Cataract Retinopathy and Late-Onset Ataxia and Cognitive Impairment: Report of Two Siblings and Review of the Literature

Author

Manuela Rizzetto, Claudio Caccia, Viviana Pensato, Caterina Mariotti, Cinzia Gellera, Valerio Leoni, Lorenzo Nanetti, Franco Taroni, Nanetti, L, Pensato, V, Leoni, V, Rizzetto, M, Caccia, C, Taroni, F, Mariotti, C, and Gellera, C

Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty, Pathology, Ataxia, Rhizomelic chondrodysplasia punctata, business.industry, Gene mutation, medicine.disease, Gastroenterology, mass spectrometry, oxysterols, organic acids, fatty acids, metabolomics, cholesterol, neurodegenerative diseases, Peripheral neuropathy, Refsum disease, Neurology, Internal medicine, Retinitis pigmentosa, medicine, Missense mutation, Chondrodysplasia punctata, Neurology (clinical), medicine.symptom, business, Letter to the Editor
Abstract

Adult Refsum disease (ARD) is a progressive multisystem disorder that is characterized by retinitis pigmentosa, hearing and smell loss, skeletal deformities, and elevated levels of phytanic acid (PA) in tissues. Peripheral neuropathy, cardiac abnormalities, and skin ichthyosis are considered subsequent manifestations, and are often described in patients not treated with PA dietary restriction. Mutations of the gene encoding the phytanoyl-coenzyme A (CoA) hydroxylase enzyme (PHYH) are the major genetic cause of ARD,1 and in a small number of cases a second gene, PEX7, which encodes peroxin 7 receptor protein (PEX7), has been associated with the ARD phenotype.2 We observed two Italian siblings who presented with late-onset progressive ataxia and cognitive decline. They comprised a 56-year-old woman and her 63-year-old brother, born from consanguineous parents, and presented with infantile bilateral cataract and retinitis pigmentosa. Except for the visual defect, both siblings exhibited normal psychomotor development. In adulthood (at age 40 years for the brother and 53 years for the sister), both patients manifested progressive behavioral and cognitive abnormalities associated with ataxic gait. At the latest examination, at ages 57 and 63 years, respectively, they presented with dementia (Mini-Mental State Examination scores of 19/30 and 13/30, respectively), motor apraxia, ophthalmoparesis, mild dysarthria, ataxic gait, mild limb dysmetria, Babinski sign, and decreased lower-limb deep-tendon reflexes. Neither of the patients had hearing loss, anosmia, or short metacarpals/metatarsals, and only the brother presented with dilated cardiomyopathy. Brain MRI revealed mild diffuse atrophy, and muscle biopsy sampling revealed normal morphology. Nerve conduction studies demonstrated a mild motor demyelinating neuropathy in the lower limbs, and somatosensory evoked potentials revealed a prolongation of the central conduction time. Both patients also presented with increased plasma PA levels (387.5 and 188.9 µmol/L), suggesting a diagnosis of ARD. Mutational screening of PHYH was negative, but there was a novel homozygous mutation in PEX7, p.Leu12Pro, caused by a T>C transition at nucleotide 35 (c.35T>C). This missense variation involved a well-conserved residue, and has not been reported as a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the Human Gene Mutation Database, National Center for Biotechnology Information database for SNPs (dbSNP132ver) or Exome Variant Server. In silico analyses predicted the mutation as probably damaging: the scores were 0.98 (PolyPhen-2-HumDiv), 0.635 (PolyPhen-2-HumVar), and 0 (Sorting Tolerant From Intolerant). The parents were not available for segregation analysis, and an asymptomatic brother was found to be heterozygous for this mutation. The patients refused a skin biopsy procedure, preventing investigations of plasmalogen synthesis.3 PEX7 mutations are most frequently found in infants affected by rhizomelic chondrodysplasia punctata type 1 (RCDP1), a congenital and rapidly worsening syndrome that is characterized by rhizomelia, chondrodysplasia punctata, cataract, and severe growth and mental retardation.3 The protein encoded by PEX7, Pex7, is essential for peroxisomal delivery of matrix enzymes containing the peroxisomal targeting signal type 2 in the amino acid sequence, including the phytanoyl-CoA hydroxylase and the plasmalogen synthesis apparatus.4 In both RCDP1 and ARD, patients present with elevated PA levels due to either a defect in the peroxisomal import of the metabolic enzymes or a primary loss-of-function of the phytanoyl-CoA hydroxylase enzyme.4 Several PEX7 mutations have so far been described in association with the RCDP1 phenotype. Only eight patients with PEX7 mutations and the Refsum phenotype have been reported, and in all of these cases the presentation was consistent with the ARD phenotype with a mild disease course (Table 1).2,3,5 In the previously reported cases, the most frequent disease manifestations were retinopathy, cataract, anosmia, hearing loss, and neuropathy (Table 1). In the cases described herein, the ocular abnormalities were also the earliest signs, but neither anosmia nor deafness was observed, while in the fifth decade both siblings developed progressive signs of dementia and ataxia. It is known that the clinical severity of this disease is associated with the residual activities and reduced amounts of Pex7.3 In particular, functional and modeling analyses have demonstrated that missense mutations associated with a severe phenotype are located in within the β sheets, probably causing a disruption of the protein structure.3 The p.Leu12Pro mutation, unlike previous missense mutations, is not located on the WD-40 repeat motif in PEX7, and it can be hypothesized that a less adverse effect on protein structure-allowing correct folding and greater residual activity-can account for the mild phenotype in these two patients. Table 1 Clinical, biochemical, and genetic characteristics of the patients with PEX7 gene mutations associated with Refsum disease phenotype, including the cases described in this study and review of the literature

Published
2015

42. Mutational analysis of VCP gene in familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Author

Barbara Castellotti, Giacomo P. Comi, Cinzia Gellera, Vincenzo Silani, Alessia Castucci, Gianni Sorarù, Nicola Ticozzi, Lucia Corrado, C. D'Ascenzo, Cinzia Tiloca, Antonia Ratti, Roberto Del Bo, Letizia Mazzini, Viviana Pensato, and Cristina Cereda

Subjects
Silent mutation, Untranslated region, Aging, Genotype, DNA Mutational Analysis, Cell Cycle Proteins, Biology, ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), Cohort Studies, Predictive Value of Tests, Valosin Containing Protein, Genetics, medicine, Humans, Point Mutation, Dementia, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Gene, Adenosine Triphosphatases, Neuroscience (all), Medicine (all), General Neuroscience, Point mutation, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Alternative splicing, VCP (valosin-containing protein), Alternative Splicing, Computational Biology, Italy, MicroRNAs, Protein Binding, Developmental Biology, Geriatrics and Gerontology, Neurology (clinical), medicine.disease, Frontotemporal dementia
Abstract

Mutations in valosin-containing protein (VCP) gene, already known to be associated with the multisystemic disorder, inclusion body myopathy with Paget's disease and frontotemporal dementia (IBMPFD), have been recently found also in familial cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). To further define the frequency of VCP mutations in ALS Italian population, we screened a cohort of 166 familial ALS and 14 ALS-frontotemporal dementia (FTD) individuals. We identified a previously reported synonymous mutation (c.2093A>C; p.Q568Q), 2 intronic variants (c.1749-14C>T; c.2085-3C>T), and 1 nucleotide change (c.2814G>T) in the 3' untranslated region (UTR). Bioinformatical analyses predicted no changes in splicing process or microRNA binding sites. Our results do not confirm a main contribution of VCP gene to familial ALS in the Italian population.

Published
2012

43. G507D mutation in FUS gene causes familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with a specific genotype-phenotype correlation.

Author

Ilaria, Martinelli, Elisabetta, Zucchi, Viviana, Pensato, Cinzia, Gellera, Bryan J, Traynor, Giulia, Gianferrari, Adriano, Chiò, and Jessica, Mandrioli

Subjects
*AMYOTROPHIC lateral sclerosis, *GENETIC mutation, *MISSENSE mutation, *MOTOR neurons, *DISEASE progression
Abstract

• FUS is a gene commonly implicated in Familial Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. • G507D mutation in FUS was previously associated with sporadic ALS. • Deep family history ascertainment revealed a large ALS family carrying G507Dmt. • Carriers showed slowly progressive ALS with predominance of lower motor neuron signs. • The phenotypic spectrum of FUS extends from fast to slow progressive forms of ALS. Mutations in FUS gene have been described classically in young ALS patients with aggressive disease course. Here we report a large family carrying a missense mutation c.1520 G>A in FUS gene with a tight association with an atypical FUS-ALS phenotype. A 60-year-old man with unilateral leg involvement at onset showed very slow disease progression with selective posterior legs atrophy, tracing his aunt's disease history. His father and uncle died for ALS after a long disease course. Another patient with a 14 years history of ALS with the same phenotype, was found to belong to the same family. In all cases, genetic analysis of FUS gene revealed a missense mutation c.1520 G>A (p.G507D) inherited with a heterozygous pattern. Co-segregation of p.G507D mutation and a specific disease phenotype within the family, characterised by predominant involvement at the lower limbs, slow progression, late bulbar and respiratory failure, demonstrates pathogenicity of this mutation, establishes a well-defined genotype-phenotype correlation and expands the clinical spectrum of heterogeneity in FUS-ALS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2022
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44. ATAXIN2 CAG-repeat length in Italian patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: risk factor or variant phenotype? Implication for genetic testing and counseling

Author

Franco Taroni, Vincenzo Silani, Giuseppe Lauria, Caterina Mariotti, Alessia Castucci, Viviana Pensato, Nicola Ticozzi, Lorenzo Nanetti, Barbara Castellotti, and Cinzia Gellera

Subjects
Genetic Markers, Male, China, Aging, Genetic counseling, Genetic Counseling, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Biology, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Risk Factors, Genetic variation, Prevalence, medicine, Humans, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetic Testing, Allele, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Risk factor, Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid, Genetic testing, Genetics, medicine.diagnostic_test, Cerebellar ataxia, General Neuroscience, Parkinsonism, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Genetic Variation, Middle Aged, medicine.disease, Phenotype, Ataxins, Italy, Female, Neurology (clinical), Geriatrics and Gerontology, medicine.symptom, Developmental Biology
Abstract

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease mainly involving cortical and spinal motor neurons. Several studies indicated that intermediate CAG expansions in ataxin-2 gene (ATXN2) are associated with increased risk of ALS. We analyzed ATXN2 CAG repeats in 658 sporadic ALS patients (SALS), 143 familial ALS cases (FALS), 231 sporadic ataxic subjects, and 551 control subjects. The frequency of ATXN2 alleles with 27-30 repeats was similar in SALS and control subjects. Fifteen SALS subjects carried ≥ 31 CAG repeats. This difference was statistically significant (p = 0.0014). No alleles with ≥ 34 CAG were found. In FALS, the distribution of ATXN2 alleles was similar to control subjects. Our results further contributed in refining CAG-repeat range significantly associated with sporadic ALS. Literature data and our findings indicate that only alleles with ≥ 31 CAG may represent low-penetrance disease/susceptibility alleles associated with variable neurodegenerative phenotypes, including cerebellar ataxia, parkinsonism, and ALS. Overlapping phenotypes should be considered in genetic testing and counseling, both for patients and at-risk family members.

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