Mutations in Fused in Sarcoma (FUS or TLS) are the fourth most prevalent in Western European familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) populations and have been associated with causing both early and very late disease onset.
This maldistribution of FUS in cortical neurons suggests a severe disturbance of messenger RNA processing, which may be a common pathogenetic mechanism of FUS-related familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Abnormal intracellular accumulation of the fused in sarcoma (FUS) protein is the characteristic pathological feature of cases of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) caused by <i>FUS</i> mutations (ALS-<i>FUS</i>) and several uncommon disorders that may present with sporadic frontotemporal dementia (FTLD-FUS).
Aberrant cytoplasmic aggregation of FUS, which is caused by mutations primarily in the C-terminal nuclear localisation signal, is associated with 3% of cases of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
The fused in sarcoma protein forms cytoplasmic aggregates in motor neurons derived from integration-free induced pluripotent stem cells generated from a patient with familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis carrying the FUS-P525L mutation.
Mutations in fused in sarcoma (FUS), a DNA/RNA binding protein, have been associated with familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (fALS), which is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that causes progressive muscular weakness and has overlapping clinical and pathologic characteristics with frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
Autosomal dominant mutations of the RNA/DNA binding protein FUS are linked to familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FALS); however, it is not clear how FUS mutations cause neurodegeneration.
The search for monogenic causes has repeatedly failed until recent identification of three disease-causing mutations in FUS (fused in sarcoma), a gene previously linked to a rare forms of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with frontotemporal dementia.
Mutations in the gene encoding fused-in-sarcoma (FUS) have been identified in a subset of patients with sporadic and familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
According to studies in European, North American, Australian, and Asian populations, FUS gene mutations occur in 0.6-20.2% of the patients with familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and 0.4-2.0% of sporadic ALS cases.
FUS/TLS-immunoreactive neuronal and glial cell inclusions increase with disease duration in familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with an R521CFUS/TLS mutation.
It is unclear whether mutations in fused in sarcoma (FUS) cause familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis via a loss-of-function effect due to titrating FUS from the nucleus or a gain-of-function effect from cytoplasmic overabundance.
Mutations in the Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1), transactive response (TAR)-DNA binding protein (TARDBP) and fused in sarcoma (FUS) genes account for approximately 1 third of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) cases.
Recently, mutations in the fused in sarcoma gene have been shown to cause familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and fused in sarcoma-positive neuronal inclusions have subsequently been demonstrated in neuronal intermediate filament inclusion disease and atypical frontotemporal lobar degeneration with ubiquitinated inclusions.