This work further explores the spectrum of FUS mutations in patients with FALS and patients with FALS with features of frontotemporal dementia (FALS/FTD) or parkinsonism and dementia (FALS/PD/DE).
TDP-43 or FUS/TLS misaccumulation seems central not just to ALS (where it is found in almost all instances of disease), but more broadly in neurodegenerative disease, including frontal temporal lobular dementia (FTLD-U) and many examples of Alzheimer's or Huntington's disease.
The DNA/RNA-binding proteins TDP-43 and FUS are found in protein aggregates in a growing number of neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and related dementia, but little is known about the neurotoxic mechanisms.
The DNA/RNA binding proteins TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) and fused-in-sarcoma (FUS) are genetically linked to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal lobar dementia, while the inappropriate cytoplasmic accumulations of TDP-43 and FUS are observed in a growing number of late-onset pathologies including spinocerebellar ataxia 3, Alzheimer's and Huntington's diseases (HD).
Blood sampling for the genetic assessment of mutations associated to primary dementias was performed as well: the genes investigated were FUS, C9Orf72, PSEN-1, PSEN-2.
The multiple roles played by RNA binding proteins in neurodegeneration have become apparent following the discovery of TAR DNA binding protein 43 kDa (TDP-43) and fused in sarcoma/translocated in liposarcoma (FUS/TLS) involvement in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal lobar dementia.
Perturbation of these remarkable liquid phases can lead to aggregates, such as those formed by the proteins TDP-43 and FUS, which are linked to ALS and other dementia.