Age-related demethylation of the TDP-43 autoregulatory region in the human motor cortex

Abstract

In order to assess the effects of aging on the autoregulation of TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) and the potential effects of this on the role of TDP-43 in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Koike et al examined post-mortem motor cortex tissue from ALS patients. They found that DNA demethylation in the autoregulatory region of the TARDBP 3′UTR, which encodes TDP-43, increased with age and was associated with the onset age of ALS and thus could be indicative of a role for dysregulation of TDP-43 autoregulation in ALS pathology.