Abstract
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating neurological disease with no effective treatment. We report the results of a moderate-scale sequencing study aimed at increasing the number of genes known to contribute to predisposition for ALS. We performed whole-exome sequencing of 2869 ALS patients and 6405 controls. Several known ALS genes were found to be associated, and TBK1 (the gene encoding TANK-binding kinase 1) was identified as an ALS gene. TBK1 is known to bind to and phosphorylate a number of proteins involved in innate immunity and autophagy, including optineurin (OPTN) and p62 (SQSTM1/sequestosome), both of which have also been implicated in ALS. These observations reveal a key role of the autophagic pathway in ALS and suggest specific targets for therapeutic intervention.
Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
MeSH terms
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Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / genetics
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Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / metabolism
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Adolescent
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Adult
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Aged
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Aged, 80 and over
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Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / genetics*
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Autophagy / genetics*
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Cell Cycle Proteins
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Exome / genetics*
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Female
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Genes
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Genetic Association Studies
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Genetic Predisposition to Disease*
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Humans
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Male
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Membrane Transport Proteins
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Middle Aged
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Protein Binding
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Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / genetics*
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Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / metabolism
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Risk
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Sequence Analysis, DNA
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Sequestosome-1 Protein
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Transcription Factor TFIIIA / genetics
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Transcription Factor TFIIIA / metabolism
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Young Adult
Substances
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Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing
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Cell Cycle Proteins
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Membrane Transport Proteins
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OPTN protein, human
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SQSTM1 protein, human
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Sequestosome-1 Protein
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Transcription Factor TFIIIA
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Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases
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TBK1 protein, human