Low Prevalence of Cancer in Patients with Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration

Analysis of Potential Biomarkers in Frontal Temporal Dementia: A Bioinformatics Approach

Frontal temporal dementia (FTD) is a neurological disorder known to have fewer therapeutic options. So far, only a few biomarkers are available for FTD that can be used as potential comorbidity targets. For example, genes such as VCP, which has a role in breast cancer, and WFS1, which has a role in COVID-19, are known to show a role in FTD as well. To this end, in the present study, we aim to identify potential biomarkers or susceptible genes for FTD that show comorbidities with diseases such as COVID-19 and breast cancer. A dataset from Gene Expression Omnibus containing FTD expression profiles from African American and white ethnicity backgrounds was included in our study. In FTD samples of the GSE193391 dataset, we identified 305 DEGs, with 168 genes being up-regulated and 137 genes being down-regulated. We conducted a comorbidity analysis for COVID-19 and breast cancer, followed by an analysis of potential drug interactions, pathogenicity, analysis of genetic variants, and functional enrichment analysis. Our results showed that the genes AKT3, GFAP, ADCYAP1R1, VDAC1, and C4A have significant transcriptomic alterations in FTD along with the comorbidity status with COVID-19 and breast cancer. Functional pathway analysis revealed that these comorbid genes were significantly enriched in the pathways such as glioma, JAK/STAT signaling, systematic lupus erythematosus, neurodegeneration-multiple diseases, and neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction. Overall, from these results, we concluded that these genes could be recommended as potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of comorbidities (breast cancer and COVID-19) in patients with FTD.

Low Serum High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Levels Associate with the C9orf72 Repeat Expansion in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration Patients

 Decreased levels of serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol have previously been linked to systemic inflammation and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Here, we aimed to analyze the lipoprotein profile and inflammatory indicators, the high-sensitivity C-reactive peptide (hs-CRP) and glycoprotein acetyls (GlycA), in sporadic and C9orf72 repeat expansion-associated frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) patients. The C9orf72 hexanucleotide repeat expansion is the most frequent genetic etiology underlying FTLD. The concentrations of different lipid measures in the sera of 67 FTLD patients (15 C9orf72 repeat expansion carriers), including GlycA, were analyzed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. To verify the state of systemic inflammation, hs-CRP was also quantified from patient sera. We found that the total serum HDL concentration was decreased in C9orf72 repeat expansion carriers when compared to non-carriers. Moreover, decreased concentrations of HDL particles of different sizes and subclass were consistently observed. No differences were detected in the very low- and low-density lipoprotein subclasses between the C9orf72 repeat expansion carriers and non-carriers. Furthermore, hs-CRP and GlycA levels did not differ between the C9orf72 repeat expansion carriers and non-carriers. In conclusion, the HDL-related changes were linked with C9orf72 repeat expansion associated FTLD but were not seen to associate with systemic inflammation. The underlying reason for the HDL changes remains unclear.

Frontotemporal dementia: a conference report from the 2nd FinFTD Symposium

The 2nd FinFTD Symposium was held on 13 September 2019, in Kuopio, Finland, and attracted 80 attendees from six different countries. The program, spanning from molecular mechanisms to biomarkers, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of frontotemporal lobar degeneration and related diseases, provided a great opportunity for researchers, clinicians, healthcare professionals and other participants to discuss about the current status and future directions of frontotemporal lobar degeneration research.

Aging and aging-associated diseases: a microRNA-based endocrine regulation hypothesis

Although there are numerous hypotheses explaining the nature of aging and associated processes, two concepts are dominant: (i) aging is a result of cell-autonomous processes, such as the accumulation of DNA mutations, aberrant methylations, protein defects, and shortening of telomeres, leading to either inhibition of cellular proliferation and death of non-dividing terminally differentiated cells or tumor development; (ii) aging is a result of a central program that is switched on at a specific stage of organismic development. The microRNA-based endocrine regulation hypothesis combines the two above concepts by proposing central regulation of cell death occurrences via hypothalamus-pituitary gland (PG)-secreted miRNA hormones, the expression and/or secretion of which are regulated by sex hormones. This hypothesis explains such well-known phenomena as inverse comorbidity of either cancer or Alzheimer’s (AD) and other neurodegenerative diseases; higher AD morbidity and lower frequency of many common types of cancer in women vs. men; higher risk of early AD and lower risk of cancer in subjects with Down syndrome; longer life expectancy in women vs. men and much lower sex-dependent differences, if any, in other mammals; increased lifespans due to hypophysectomy or PG hypofunction; and parabiotic effects of blood or plasma transfusions between young and old animals.

Peripheral inflammatory markers and clinical correlations in patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration with and without the C9orf72 repeat expansion

In this study, our aim was to evaluate potential peripheral inflammatory changes in frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) patients carrying or not the C9orf72 repeat expansion. To this end, levels of several inflammatory markers (MCP-1, RANTES, IL-10, IL-17A, IL-12p, IFN-γ, IL-1β, IL-8, and hs-CRP) and blood cells counts in plasma and/or serum of FTLD patients (N = 98) with or without the C9orf72 repeat expansion were analyzed. In addition, we evaluated whether the analyzed peripheral inflammatory markers correlated with disease progression or distinct clinical phenotypes under the heterogenous FTLD spectrum. Elevated levels of pro-inflammatory RANTES or MCP-1 and decreased levels of anti-inflammatory IL-10 were found to associate with Parkinsonism and a more rapid disease progression, indicated by longitudinal measurements of either MMSE or ADCS-ADL decline. These findings were observed in the total cohort in general, whereas the C9orf72 repeat expansion carriers showed only slight differences in IL-10 and hemoglobin levels compared to non-carriers. Furthermore, these C9orf72 repeat expansion-associated differences were observed mostly in male subjects. The females in general showed elevated levels of several pro-inflammatory markers compared to males regardless of the C9orf72 genotype. Our study suggests that pro-inflammatory changes observed in the early symptomatic phase of FTLD are associated with distinct clinical profiles and a more rapid disease progression, and that the C9orf72 repeat expansion and gender may also affect the inflammatory profile in FTLD.

Increased risk of melanoma in C9ORF72 repeat expansion carriers: A case-control study

INTRODUCTION

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) are considered part of the same pathological spectrum. There is an increased risk of ALS in patients who have had melanoma. The risk of FTLD in melanoma (or cancer) patients is unknown. We aimed to study if C9ORF72 expansion is linked to a higher prevalence of melanoma.

METHODS

We selected patients with a diagnosis in the ALS-FTLD spectrum who were tested for pathogenic mutations. Medical history was reviewed, to identify those with pathologically documented melanomas.

RESULTS

We included 189 patients. Sixty-two had identified pathogenic mutations (39 C9ORF72). C9ORF72 carriers had a significantly higher risk of melanoma (odds ratio = 24.709; P < 0.007). There was no association with phenotype.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that patients with a history of melanoma may have an increased probability of carrying a C9ORF72 repeat expansion. ALS or FTLD carriers of C9ORF72 should undergo surveillance for skin changes. Muscle Nerve 59:362-365, 2019.

The Association Between Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration and Bullous Pemphigoid

Recent studies have shown an epidemiological and immunological association between bullous pemphigoid (BP) and several neurological or psychiatric diseases. Here, our aim was for the first time to specify whether an association exists between BP and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). Medical histories of FTLD patients (N = 196) were screened for clinical comorbidity, and BP180 and BP230 autoantibodies were analyzed in the sera of FTLD patients (N = 70, including 24 C9orf72 repeat expansion carriers) by BP180-NC16A-ELISA and BP230-ELISA. One FTLD patient (C9orf72 repeat expansion carrier) had a comorbid diagnosis of BP. Increased levels of serum BP180 autoantibodies (cutoff value >9 U/ml) were detected more often in FTLD patients (10.0%) than in controls (4.9%). Moreover, elevated levels of both BP180 and BP230 autoantibodies were found more often in C9orf72 repeat expansion-carrying FTLD than non-carrying patients or controls. However, none of these differences reached a statistical significance likely due to our limited cohort size. In conclusion, our findings suggest that subset of FTLD patients especially with the C9orf72 repeat expansion may have an immunological association with BP.