Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal lobar degeneration are two ends of a phenotypic spectrum of disabling, relentlessly progressive and ultimately fatal diseases. A key characteristic of both conditions is the presence of TDP-43 (encoded by TARDBP) or FUS immunoreactive cytoplasmic inclusions in neuronal and glial cells. This cytoplasmic mislocalization of otherwise predominantly nuclear RNA binding proteins implies a perturbation of the nucleocytoplasmic shuttling as a possible event in the pathogenesis. Compromised nucleocytoplasmic shuttling has recently also been associated with a hexanucleotide repeat expansion mutation in C9orf72, which is the most common genetic cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal lobar degeneration, and leads to accumulation of cytoplasmic TDP-43 inclusions. Mutation in C9orf72 may disrupt nucleocytoplasmic shuttling on the level of C9ORF72 protein, the transcribed hexanucleotide repeat RNA, and/or dipeptide repeat proteins translated form the hexanucleotide repeat RNA. These defects of nucleocytoplasmic shuttling may therefore, constitute the common ground of the underlying disease mechanisms in different molecular subtypes of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
B.06 Other
COBISS.SI-ID: 29663527MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short noncoding RNAs that are important global- as well as tissue- and cell-type-specific regulators of gene expression. Muscle-specific miRNAs or myomirs have been shown to control various processes in skeletal muscles, from myogenesis and muscle homeostasis to different responses to environmental stimuli, such as exercise. Importantly, myomirs are also involved in the development of muscle atrophy arising from aging, immobility, prolonged exposure to microgravity, or muscular and neuromuscular disorders. Additionally, muscle atrophy is both induced by and exacerbates many important chronic and infectious diseases. As global yet specific muscle regulators, myomirs are also good candidates for therapeutic use. Understanding the dynamics of myomirs expression and their role in the development of disease is necessary to determine their potential for muscle atrophy prevention
B.06 Other
COBISS.SI-ID: 27698983Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) are devastating neurodegenerative diseases that form two ends of a complex disease spectrum. Aggregation of RNA binding proteins is one of the hallmark pathologic features of ALS and FTDL and suggests perturbance of the RNA metabolism in their etiology. Recent identification of the disease-associated expansions of the intronic hexanucleotide repeat GGGGCC in the C9ORF72 gene further substantiates the case for RNA involvement. The expanded repeat, which has turned out to be the single most common genetic cause of ALS and FTLD, may enable the formation of complex DNA and RNA structures, changes in RNA transcription, and processing and formation of toxic RNA foci, which may sequester and inactivate RNA binding proteins. Additionally, the transcribed expanded repeat can undergo repeat-associated non-ATG-initiated translation resulting in accumulation of a series of dipeptide repeat proteins. Understanding the basis of the proposed mechanisms and shared pathways, as well as interactions with known key proteins such as TAR DNA-binding protein (TDP-43) are needed to clarify the pathology of ALS and/or FTLD, and make possible steps toward therapy development.
B.06 Other
COBISS.SI-ID: 27699239In a short invited lecture I presented the results of small RNA Seq from muscle tissue of ALS patients
B.04 Guest lecture
COBISS.SI-ID: 4729516I presented the results of small RNA Seq from muscle tissue of ALS patients during the poster session.
B.03 Paper at an international scientific conference
COBISS.SI-ID: 4729004