Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0002736 (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)
 19,048 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We studied exonic trinucleotide repeats and expression of androgen receptor (AR) gene in the spinal cord from an autopsied patient with X-linked spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA). Forty-nine CAG triplet repeats were found in tissues from the spinal cord, cerebrum, cerebellum, cardiac muscle and bladder, while there were 20-24 CAG repeats in these tissues from control subjects, consisting of three patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and three patients with lung cancer. Thus, mitotic instability of the AR gene in SBMA may not occur at the level of somatic cells. To determine whether expression of the AR gene in the spinal cord of SBMA differs from that in control subjects, we used quantitative reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR and Western blot. AR mRNA and protein were detected in the spinal cord from the patient with SBMA, but the levels of both AR mRNA and protein were less than those from the patients with ALS in whom the loss of motor neurons was similar to findings in the patient with SBMA. These findings suggest that structural alteration plus a reduced level of AR in the spinal cord are involved in the pathogenesis of SBMA, resulting in degeneration of motor neurons.
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PMID:Exonic trinucleotide repeats and expression of androgen receptor gene in spinal cord from X-linked spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy. 751 6

The spinal muscular atrophies (SMAs) are defined as a group of inherited disorders sharing the common pathological feature of degeneration of the anterior horn cells of the spinal cord and, in some cases, additionally of the bulbar motor nuclei. They are classified according to clinical features, including severity and distribution of muscle weakness and on their modes of inheritance. The SMAs are not uncommon: SMA type I (severe, acute infantile SMA) alone has a gene frequency in the UK estimated at 0.006. Together they represent a significant source of morbidity and mortality. Over the past 3 years, two major advances have been made towards understanding the molecular basis of these clinically heterogeneous disorders. First, in 1990, it was reported that all three forms of childhood-onset proximal SMA were linked to probes mapping to the proximal long arm of chromosome 5. Significant progress has been made towards isolating the gene or genes responsible, and a protocol for prenatal disease prediction in families with a previously severely affected child has been established. Second, in 1991, the molecular defect in adult-onset X-linked spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy was defined as an expansion of a (CAG)n trinucleotide repeat which encodes a string of glutamine residues in the first exon of the androgen receptor. Little progress has been made in elucidating the molecular pathology of the other SMAs. None of them has been linked to chromosome 5q markers, or indeed to markers elsewhere; the conditions are rare and pedigrees generally small. When the gene (or genes) on proximal 5q underlying SMA types I, II and III is cloned, mutations in this can then be sought in the other SMAs. The product of the chromosome 5q gene presumably plays a crucial role in maintaining the integrity of motor neurones, so determination of its structure and function may well have consequences far beyond those pertaining to the inherited SMAs. The identification of pathogenic mutations in the SOD-1 gene in familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is of great interest, although it is not clear that similar mechanisms contribute to the more common sporadic form of the disease.
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PMID:Disorders of the motor neurone. 795 56

We examined the expression level of androgen receptor (AR) messenger RNA (mRNA) in the motoneurons from patients with X-linked spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) using in situ hybridization. Although AR mRNA was detected in motoneurons from the SBMA patient, the expression level was lower than that from the patients with ALS, despite similar loss of motoneurons. The expression level of AR mRNA in the dorsal nucleus of Clarke from the patient with SBMA was similar to that in the patients with ALS, suggesting that the qualities of the mRNA were similar in each spinal cord sample and that AR mRNA was uniquely reduced in the motoneurons of the SBMA patient. Decreased levels of AR mRNA may be involved in the pathogenesis of SBMA resulting in degeneration of motoneurons.
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PMID:The reduction of androgen receptor mRNA in motoneurons of X-linked spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy. 926 45

Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are representative motor neuron diseases in which selective neuronal degeneration occurs. In this paper, some molecular aspects are discussed related to the pathogenesis of the neuronal degeneration. SBMA is a an X-linked neurodegenerative disease caused by the expansion of a CAG repeat in the first exon of the androgen receptor (AR) gene. To date, eight CAG repeat diseases have been identified, including spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), Huntington's disease (HD), dentatorubralpallidoluysian atrophy (DRPLA), and five spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs 1, 2, 3, 6, 7). These disorders very likely share a common pathogenesis caused by the gain of a toxic function associated with the expanded polyglutamine tract. Several mechanisms have been postulated as a pathogenic process for neurodegeneration caused by the expanded polyglutamine tract. In SBMA, nuclear inclusions (NIs) containing mutant AR protein have been observed in regions of SBMA central nervous system susceptible to degenerations. Transcriptional factors or their cofactors, such as CREB or creb-binding protein (CBP) sequestrated in NIs, may alter the major intracellular transcriptional signal transduction and ultimately may result in neuronal degeneration. The components in the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway also colocalized in NIs and contribute to the path-ogenesis of SBMA. We generated two types of transgenic mice expressing 239Q under the control of human AR promoter and full-size AR containing 97Q. Marked neurological symptoms and extensive nuclear inclusions were observed in both transgenic lines, but there was no neuronal cell death, suggesting that major neurological phenotype was due to neuronal dysfunction instead of neuronal cell death. As for the therapeutic strategies, the overexpression of Hsp70 and Hsp40 chaperones acted together to protect a cultured neuronal cell model of SBMA from inclusion formation and cell death by mutant AR with expanded polyglutamine tract. In regard to ALS, we are screening the gene expression profiles of the motor neurons from the human ALS and SOD transgenic mouse spinal cord. Motor neurons were microdissected from the spinal cord samples by a lazer-captured microdissection system. Gene expression profiles were screened by cDNA microarray and molecular indexing. Several new molecules were cloned and characterized for their function and relation to neuronal cell dysfunction. Some molecules characterized in this procedure were briefly described.
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PMID:[Molecular pathogenesis of motor neuron diseases]. 1140 Mar 22

Kennedy's disease is a rare X-linked spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA). A degenerative process of the motor neurons is associated with an increase in the number of CAG repeats encoding a polyglutamine stretch within the androgen receptor. Despite a distinctive clinical phenotype, SBMA can be misdiagnosed, usually due to the lack of clear family history. Accurate diagnosis is important for genetic counseling and because alternative diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis usually means much worse prognosis. We report 2 unrelated patients with Kennedy's disease in whom the clinical diagnosis was confirmed by showing the CAG repeat expansion.
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PMID:[Kennedy's disease: expansion of the CAG trinucleotide]. 1173 76

The Golgi apparatus (GA) of spinal anterior horn cells was examined immunohistochemically in five patients with X-linked spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), in five patients with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and in five patients without neurodegenerative diseases. In SBMA cases, reduction of the size of the GA was observed in numerous anterior horn cells; however, fragmentation of the GA, previously described in sporadic and familial ALS with SOD1 mutations, was observed only in a few neurons. In addition, motor neurons bearing an intranuclear inclusion showed a normal network of elements of the GA. The frequencies of fragmented GA in counted motor neurons were 0-2.4 % in SBMA cases, 0-3.0 % in normal control cases and 15.7-55.3 % in ALS cases. The different frequency of fragmented GA between SBMA and ALS adds another finding of pathogenetic difference of neurodegeneration in these two motor neuron diseases.
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PMID:Reduction of the size of the Golgi apparatus of spinal anterior horn cells in patients with X-linked spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy. 1274 13

We report here muscle MRI findings of the lower limb in X-linked spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA). T1-weighted imaging of muscle MRI disclosed that the thigh muscles, including the semimembranosus, biceps femoris longus and the vastus lateralis muscles, showed high intensity signals with atrophy. Contrarily, the sartorius, gracilis and rectus femoris muscles were comparably preserved. Not only the thigh muscles, but also the calf muscles including the gastrocnemius medialis and lateralis, and soleus muscles showed high intensity signals. In amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the leg muscles are generally atrophic, but the selective pattern of fatty degeneration, seen in SBMA was not observed. Muscle MRI is a useful method of estimating the distribution and severity of SBMA in affected muscles.
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PMID:Muscle MRI findings of X-linked spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy. 1524 Feb 2

Kennedy's disease, or spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), is an inherited X-linked degenerative disorder characterised by slowly progressive proximal limb weakness, bulbar weakness, fasciculations, signs of androgen insensitivity and characteristic EMG findings. The disease is caused by a trinucleotide (CAG) repeat in the androgen receptor gene. We describe a patient with atypical symptoms who was initially misdiagnosed after presenting with weakness of mm. masseter and mm. temporales that caused his jaw to hang open. The initial diagnosis was suspicion of myasthenia gravis or ALS. Genetic testing later confirmed the diagnosis of Kennedy's disease.
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PMID:["Jaw drop" as an atypical manifestation of Kennedy's disease]. 1613 77

Deficient RNA editing of the AMPA receptor subunit GluR2 at the Q/R site is a primary cause of neuronal death and recently has been reported to be a tightly linked etiological cause of motor neuron death in sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We quantified the RNA editing efficiency of the GluR2 Q/R site in single motor neurons of rats transgenic for mutant human Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD1) as well as patients with spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), and found that GluR2 mRNA was completely edited in all the motor neurons examined. It seems likely that the death cascade is different among the dying motor neurons in sporadic ALS, familial ALS with mutant SOD1 and SBMA.
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PMID:Underediting of GluR2 mRNA, a neuronal death inducing molecular change in sporadic ALS, does not occur in motor neurons in ALS1 or SBMA. 1622 46

The 20 S proteasome is a ubiquitous, barrel-shaped protease complex responsible for most of cellular proteolysis, and its reduced activity is thought to be associated with accumulations of aberrant or misfolded proteins, resulting in a number of neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy, Parkinson disease, and Alzheimer disease. The 20 S proteasomes of archaebacteria (archaea) are structurally simple and proteolytically powerful and thought to be an evolutionary precursor to eukaryotic proteasomes. We successfully reproduced the archaeal proteasome in a functional state in mammalian cells, and here we show that the archaeal proteasome effectively accelerated species-specific degradation of mutant superoxide dismutase-1 and the mutant polyglutamine tract-extended androgen receptor, causative proteins of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy, respectively, and reduced the cellular toxicities of these mutant proteins. Further, we demonstrate that archaeal proteasome can also degrade other neurodegenerative disease-associated proteins such as alpha-synuclein and tau. Our study showed that archaeal proteasomes can degrade aggregation-prone proteins whose toxic gain of function causes neurodegradation and reduce protein cellular toxicity.
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PMID:Archaeal proteasomes effectively degrade aggregation-prone proteins and reduce cellular toxicities in mammalian cells. 1679 67


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