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Mutations in SQSTM1 encoding p62 in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: genetics and neuropathology

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Abstract

Mutations in SQSTM1 encoding the sequestosome 1/p62 protein have recently been identified in familial and sporadic cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). p62 is a component of the ubiquitin inclusions detected in degenerating neurons in ALS patients. We sequenced SQSTM1 in 90 French patients with familial ALS (FALS) and 74 autopsied ALS cases with sporadic ALS (SALS). We identified, at the heterozygote state, one missense c.1175C>T, p.Pro392Leu (exon 8) in one of our FALS and one substitution in intron 7 (the c.1165+1G>A, previously called IVS7+1 G-A, A390X) affecting the exon 7 splicing site in one SALS. These mutations that are located in the ubiquitin-associated domain (UBA domain) of the p62 protein have already been described in Paget’s disease and ALS patients carrying these mutations had both concomitant Paget’s disease. However, we also identified two novel missense mutations in two SALS: the c.259A>G, p.Met87Val in exon 2 and the c.304A>G, p.Lys102Glu in exon 3. These mutations that were not detected in 360 control subjects are possibly pathogenic. Neuropathology analysis of three patients carrying SQSTM1 variants revealed the presence of large round p62 inclusions in motor neurons, and immunoblot analysis showed an increased p62 and TDP-43 protein levels in the spinal cord. Our results confirm that SQSTM1 gene mutations could be the cause or genetic susceptibility factor of ALS in some patients.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the patients and their families. We thank the Généthon cell and DNA bank (Evry, France) and the CRicm DNA and cell bank (Paris, France) for patients’ DNA and the genotyping and sequencing platform facilities of the ICM (Paris, France). This work was financed by the Association pour la Recherche sur la Sclérose latérale amyotrophique et autres maladies du motoneurone (ARSla, France), the Association française contre les myopathies (AFM, France) and the Fondation NRJ-Institut de France (France). Protocols were approved by the Medical Research Ethics Committee of “Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris” and all participants signed a consent form for the research.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Correspondence to Stéphanie Millecamps.

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D. Seilhean and S. Millecamps contributed equally to this work.

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Teyssou, E., Takeda, T., Lebon, V. et al. Mutations in SQSTM1 encoding p62 in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: genetics and neuropathology. Acta Neuropathol 125, 511–522 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00401-013-1090-0

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