A unique disease known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinsonism Dementia Complex (PDC) or ALS/PDC is observed in the Chamorro people of Guam. The clinical features of ALS observed are similar if not identical to ALS observed in other parts of the world. However, Guam ALS is neuropathologically unique in that neurofibrillary tangles, are observed in the cortex and spinal cord, a finding atypical of classical ALS. PDC is Parkinsonism features observed with dementia, again, the neuropathologic features, which are essentially identical to Guam ALS, distinguish PDC from Parkinson's disease. Guam ALS and PDC are considered different clinical. The goal of this proposal is to identify the genetic susceptibility factors involved in ALS/PDC. To accomplish this goal, the mode of inheritance of ALS/PDC will be examined in 1st degree relatives of a case-control Registry established in 1958-1963. Analysis of segregation patterns should provide information to generate a genetic model of ALS/PDC. Since environmental factors, possibly unique to Gum, also probably play a role in susceptibility, environmental risk factors will be incorporated into the genetic model. To actually identify genetic factors, linkage analysis of ALS/PDC pedigrees will be performed to map the susceptibility gene(s). If needed, non-parametric methods will be used for mapping loci. Results from genetic modeling will be used to design the analysis methods.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Research Program Projects (P01)
Project #
5P01AG014382-05
Application #
6423835
Study Section
Project Start
2001-03-01
Project End
2002-05-31
Budget Start
Budget End
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2001
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California San Diego
Department
Type
DUNS #
077758407
City
La Jolla
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
92093
Dombroski, Beth A; Galasko, Douglas R; Mata, Ignacio F et al. (2013) C9orf72 hexanucleotide repeat expansion and Guam amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-Parkinsonism-dementia complex. JAMA Neurol 70:742-5
Brunden, Kurt R; Ballatore, Carlo; Lee, Virginia M-Y et al. (2012) Brain-penetrant microtubule-stabilizing compounds as potential therapeutic agents for tauopathies. Biochem Soc Trans 40:661-6
Lee, Virginia M-Y; Brunden, Kurt R; Hutton, Michael et al. (2011) Developing therapeutic approaches to tau, selected kinases, and related neuronal protein targets. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med 1:a006437
Yu, Chang-En; Bird, Thomas D; Bekris, Lynn M et al. (2010) The spectrum of mutations in progranulin: a collaborative study screening 545 cases of neurodegeneration. Arch Neurol 67:161-70
Brunden, Kurt R; Ballatore, Carlo; Crowe, Alex et al. (2010) Tau-directed drug discovery for Alzheimer's disease and related tauopathies: a focus on tau assembly inhibitors. Exp Neurol 223:304-10
Crowe, Alex; Huang, Wenwei; Ballatore, Carlo et al. (2009) Identification of aminothienopyridazine inhibitors of tau assembly by quantitative high-throughput screening. Biochemistry 48:7732-45
Brunden, Kurt R; Trojanowski, John Q; Lee, Virginia M-Y (2009) Advances in tau-focused drug discovery for Alzheimer's disease and related tauopathies. Nat Rev Drug Discov 8:783-93
Snyder, L R; Cruz-Aguado, R; Sadilek, M et al. (2009) Lack of cerebral bmaa in human cerebral cortex. Neurology 72:1360-1
Choi, Yoonha; Wijsman, Ellen M; Weir, Bruce S (2009) Case-control association testing in the presence of unknown relationships. Genet Epidemiol 33:668-78
Sieh, Weiva; Choi, Yoonha; Chapman, Nicola H et al. (2009) Identification of novel susceptibility loci for Guam neurodegenerative disease: challenges of genome scans in genetic isolates. Hum Mol Genet 18:3725-38

Showing the most recent 10 out of 53 publications