Neuropathology and applied neurobiology
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Neuropathol. Appl. Neurobiol. · Jun 2016
Motor neurone disease/amyotrophic lateral sclerosis associated with intermediate-length CAG repeat expansions in Ataxin-2 does not have 1C2-positive polyglutamine inclusions.
Intermediate-length cytosine-adenine-guanine repeat expansions in the ATXN2 gene (which encodes for Ataxin-2 protein) have been linked to increased risk for motor neurone disease/amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We screened DNA from cases for which we had post-mortem brain tissue to enable characterization of the neuropathology associated with this mutation. ⋯ Intermediate expansions of the CAG repeat in ATXN2 are associated with ALS. They are mostly associated with TDP-43 proteinopathy, but not with 1C2-positive polyglutamine inclusions. In the nervous system, Ataxin-2 protein expression is predominantly seen in large neurones. There is no consistent histopathological hallmark that is unique to ATXN2-ALS.