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01-06-2019 | Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis | Original Paper

C9orf72 Intermediate Alleles in Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, and Rheumatoid Arthritis

Authors: Micaela Fredi, Ilaria Cavazzana, Giorgio Biasiotto, Massimiliano Filosto, Alessandro Padovani, Eugenio Monti, Angela Tincani, Franco Franceschini, Isabella Zanella

Published in: NeuroMolecular Medicine | Issue 2/2019

Abstract

The commonest genetic cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a large hexanucleotide expansion within the non-coding region of the C9orf72 gene. The pathogenic mechanisms of the mutation seem toxic gain of functions, while haploinsufficiency alone appears insufficient to cause neurodegeneration. C9orf72^−/− mice rather develop features of autoimmunity. Immune-mediated dysfunctions are involved in the pathogenesis of ALS and FTD and high prevalence of autoimmune disease has recently been observed in C9orf72 expansion-positive patients. Since intermediate repeat expansions result in decreased transcription of the gene, we explored the hypothesis that C9orf72 intermediate alleles could be a genetic risk for autoimmune conditions. We genotyped 69 systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and 77 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, with 68 expansion-negative ALS patients, as control. A cut-off of ≥ 9 and ≤ 30 hexanucleotide units was chosen to define intermediate-length expansions. In the SLE and SLE + RA cohorts, both the number of patients with intermediate expansions and the overall number of intermediate alleles were significantly higher than in controls (23.2% vs. 7.4%, p = 0.020; 13.8% vs. 3.7%, p = 0.006, and 19.9% vs. 7.4%, p = 0.033, 11% vs. 3.7%, p = 0.021, respectively) and discernible although non-significant differences were found for the RA only cohort. Three SLE patients had intermediate-length expansions on both alleles, two of them harboring sequence variations within the hexanucleotide downstream region. However, no peculiar clinical features associated with the intermediate expansion were identified. Our results suggest that C9orf72 intermediate alleles could be associated with systemic autoimmune diseases, indicating a role of C9orf72 in immunity regulation.

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Title: C9orf72 Intermediate Alleles in Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, and Rheumatoid Arthritis
Authors: Micaela Fredi
Ilaria Cavazzana
Giorgio Biasiotto
Massimiliano Filosto
Alessandro Padovani
Eugenio Monti
Angela Tincani
Franco Franceschini
Isabella Zanella
Publication date: 01-06-2019
Publisher: Springer US
Keywords: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
Frontotemporal Dementia
Frontotemporal Dementia
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Published in: NeuroMolecular Medicine / Issue 2/2019
Print ISSN: 1535-1084
Electronic ISSN: 1559-1174
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12017-019-08528-8

2024 ASCO Annual Meeting

Springer Medicine

C9orf72 Intermediate Alleles in Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, and Rheumatoid Arthritis

Abstract

2024 ASCO Annual Meeting

Springer Medicine

Abstract

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