Author
Kevin Talbot
Other affiliations: Land Rover, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Rover Group ...read more
Bio: Kevin Talbot is an academic researcher from University of Oxford. The author has contributed to research in topics: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis & Spinal muscular atrophy. The author has an hindex of 71, co-authored 268 publications receiving 15669 citations. Previous affiliations of Kevin Talbot include Land Rover & Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
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National Institutes of Health1, University College London2, Erasmus University Rotterdam3, VU University Amsterdam4, Cardiff University5, University of Manchester6, University of Turin7, University of Würzburg8, University of Sydney9, University of Birmingham10, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust11, John Radcliffe Hospital12, The Catholic University of America13, University of Siena14, Lund University15, University of Cagliari16, Oulu University Hospital17, Helsinki University Central Hospital18, University of Pennsylvania19, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center20, Memorial Hospital of South Bend21, Chang Gung University22, University of Tokyo23, Pierre-and-Marie-Curie University24, Centre national de la recherche scientifique25, French Institute of Health and Medical Research26, University of Sheffield27, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board28, University Hospital of Wales29, Johns Hopkins University30
TL;DR: A common Mendelian genetic lesion in C9orf72 is implicated in many cases of sporadic and familial ALS and FTD, suggesting a one-off expansion occurring about 1500 years ago.
Abstract: Background
We aimed to accurately estimate the frequency of a hexanucleotide repeat expansion in C9orf72 that has been associated with a large proportion of cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD).
Methods
We screened 4448 patients diagnosed with ALS (El Escorial criteria) and 1425 patients with FTD (Lund-Manchester criteria) from 17 regions worldwide for the GGGGCC hexanucleotide expansion using a repeat-primed PCR assay. We assessed familial disease status on the basis of self-reported family history of similar neurodegenerative diseases at the time of sample collection. We compared haplotype data for 262 patients carrying the expansion with the known Finnish founder risk haplotype across the chromosomal locus. We calculated age-related penetrance using the Kaplan-Meier method with data for 603 individuals with the expansion.
Findings
In patients with sporadic ALS, we identified the repeat expansion in 236 (7·0%) of 3377 white individuals from the USA, Europe, and Australia, two (4·1%) of 49 black individuals from the USA, and six (8·3%) of 72 Hispanic individuals from the USA. The mutation was present in 217 (39·3%) of 552 white individuals with familial ALS from Europe and the USA. 59 (6·0%) of 981 white Europeans with sporadic FTD had the mutation, as did 99 (24·8%) of 400 white Europeans with familial FTD. Data for other ethnic groups were sparse, but we identified one Asian patient with familial ALS (from 20 assessed) and two with familial FTD (from three assessed) who carried the mutation. The mutation was not carried by the three Native Americans or 360 patients from Asia or the Pacific Islands with sporadic ALS who were tested, or by 41 Asian patients with sporadic FTD. All patients with the repeat expansion had (partly or fully) the founder haplotype, suggesting a one-off expansion occurring about 1500 years ago. The pathogenic expansion was non-penetrant in individuals younger than 35 years, 50% penetrant by 58 years, and almost fully penetrant by 80 years.
Interpretation
A common Mendelian genetic lesion in C9orf72 is implicated in many cases of sporadic and familial ALS and FTD. Testing for this pathogenic expansion should be considered in the management and genetic counselling of patients with these fatal neurodegenerative diseases.
Funding
Full funding sources listed at end of paper (see Acknowledgments).
951 citations
TL;DR: A missense mutation in the gene encoding 27-kDa small heat-shock protein B1 (HSPB1, also called HSP27) that segregates in the family with CMT2F is reported and four additional missense mutations are identified.
Abstract: Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) is the most common inherited neuromuscular disease and is characterized by considerable clinical and genetic heterogeneity. We previously reported a Russian family with autosomal dominant axonal CMT and assigned the locus underlying the disease (CMT2F; OMIM 606595) to chromosome 7q11-q21 (ref. 2). Here we report a missense mutation in the gene encoding 27-kDa small heat-shock protein B1 (HSPB1, also called HSP27) that segregates in the family with CMT2F. Screening for mutations in HSPB1 in 301 individuals with CMT and 115 individuals with distal hereditary motor neuropathies (distal HMNs) confirmed the previously observed mutation and identified four additional missense mutations. We observed the additional HSPB1 mutations in four families with distal HMN and in one individual with CMT neuropathy. Four mutations are located in the Hsp20-alpha-crystallin domain, and one mutation is in the C-terminal part of the HSP27 protein. Neuronal cells transfected with mutated HSPB1 were less viable than cells expressing the wild-type protein. Cotransfection of neurofilament light chain (NEFL) and mutant HSPB1 resulted in altered neurofilament assembly in cells devoid of cytoplasmic intermediate filaments.
570 citations
TL;DR: mounting evidence from mice with cell restrictive, repressible or chimeric expression of mutant SOD1 transgenes and bone marrow transplants supports non-neuronal origins of neuroprotection in ALS.
508 citations
University of Oxford1, Trinity College, Dublin2, University of Miami3, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill4, University of Turin5, University of Lisbon6, University of Sheffield7, University of New South Wales8, California Pacific Medical Center9, Columbia University Medical Center10, University of California, San Diego11, Royal London Hospital12, National Institutes of Health13, Utrecht University14, University of Sydney15, Neuroscience Research Australia16
TL;DR: Identification of C9orf72 repeat expansions in patients without a family history of ALS challenges the traditional division between familial and sporadic disease.
Abstract: Two decades after the discovery that 20% of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) cases were linked to mutations in the superoxide dismutase-1 (SOD1) gene, a substantial proportion of the remainder of cases of familial ALS have now been traced to an expansion of the intronic hexanucleotide repeat sequence in C9orf72. This breakthrough provides an opportunity to re-evaluate longstanding concepts regarding the cause and natural history of ALS, coming soon after the pathological unification of ALS with frontotemporal dementia through a shared pathological signature of cytoplasmic inclusions of the ubiquitinated protein TDP-43. However, with profound clinical, prognostic, neuropathological, and now genetic heterogeneity, the concept of ALS as one disease appears increasingly untenable. This background calls for the development of a more sophisticated taxonomy, and an appreciation of ALS as the breakdown of a wider network rather than a discrete vulnerable population of specialised motor neurons. Identification of C9orf72 repeat expansions in patients without a family history of ALS challenges the traditional division between familial and sporadic disease. By contrast, the 90% of apparently sporadic cases and incomplete penetrance of several genes linked to familial cases suggest that at least some forms of ALS arise from the interplay of multiple genes, poorly understood developmental, environmental, and age-related factors, as well as stochastic events.
460 citations
TL;DR: Interestingly, mutations predominantly in the N-terminal motor domain of KIF5A are causative for two neurodegenerative diseases: hereditary spastic paraplegia and Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 2.
444 citations
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TL;DR: It is found that repeat expansion in C9ORF72 is a major cause of both FTD and ALS, suggesting multiple disease mechanisms.
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TL;DR: There is evidence for a remarkable convergence in the mechanisms responsible for the sensing, transduction, and amplification of inflammatory processes that result in the production of neurotoxic mediators in neurodegenerative diseases.
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TL;DR: The sheer volume and scope of data posed by this flood of data pose a significant challenge to the development of efficient and intuitive visualization tools able to scale to very large data sets and to flexibly integrate multiple data types, including clinical data.
Abstract: Rapid improvements in sequencing and array-based platforms are resulting in a flood of diverse genome-wide data, including data from exome and whole-genome sequencing, epigenetic surveys, expression profiling of coding and noncoding RNAs, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and copy number profiling, and functional assays. Analysis of these large, diverse data sets holds the promise of a more comprehensive understanding of the genome and its relation to human disease. Experienced and knowledgeable human review is an essential component of this process, complementing computational approaches. This calls for efficient and intuitive visualization tools able to scale to very large data sets and to flexibly integrate multiple data types, including clinical data. However, the sheer volume and scope of data pose a significant challenge to the development of such tools.
2,187 citations
01 Jan 2007
2,163 citations
TL;DR: The physics of DW-MRI is reviewed, currently preferred methodology is indicated, and the limits of interpretation of its results are explained, with a list of 'Do's and Don'ts' which define good practice in this expanding area of imaging neuroscience.
2,027 citations