Novel TBK1 LoF variant in a family with upper motor neuron predominant motor neuron disease

© 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is usually sporadic, but 20% of European ancestry cases have a family history of ALS or frontotemporal dementia (FTD). More than 30 genes confer a higher risk for ALS, and C9orf72, TARDBP, SOD1 and FUS account for nearly 70% of all familial (fALS) cases. Tank-binding kinase 1 (TBK1) is an established causal gene associated with 1% of fALS and/or FTD. It codes for a multifunctional kinase involved in multiple cellular processes, such as neuroinflammation and autophagy. Both loss-of-function (LoF) and missense mutations are associated with an increased risk for ALS-FTD spectrum and mutations that cause a 50% reduction of TBK1 protein levels are considered pathogenic.