Authors:
Bilada Bilican, Andrea Serio, Sami J. Barmada, Agnes Lumi Nishimura, Gareth J. Sullivan, Monica Carrasco, Hemali P. Phatnani, Clare A. Puddifoot, David Story, Judy Fletcher, In-Hyun Park, Brad A. Friedman, George Q. Dalej, David J. A. Wyllie, Giles E. Hardingham, Ian Wilmut, Steven Finkbeiner, Tom Maniatis, Christopher E. Shaw, and Siddharthan Chandran
Summary:
Transactive response DNA-binding (TDP-43) protein is the dominant disease protein in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and a subgroup of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD-TDP). Identification of mutations in the gene encoding TDP-43 (TARDBP) in familial ALS confirms a mechanistic link between misaccumulation of TDP-43 and neurodegeneration and provides an opportunity to study TDP-43 proteinopathies in human neurons generated from patient fibroblasts by using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Here, we report the generation of iPSCs that carry the TDP-43 M337V mutation and their differentiation into neurons and functional motor neurons. Mutant neurons had elevated levels of soluble and detergent-resistant TDP-43 protein, decreased survival in longitudinal studies, and increased vulnerability to antagonism of the PI3K pathway. We conclude that expression of physiological levels of TDP-43 in human neurons is sufficient to reveal a mutation-specific cell-autonomous phenotype and strongly supports this approach for the study of disease mechanisms and for drug screening.
Source:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America; Vol. 109, No. 15, 5803-5808 (04/10/12)