Elevated Levels of Selenium Species in Cerebrospinal Fluid of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Patients with Disease-Associated Gene Mutations.

CONCLUSIONS: Selenium compounds can impair tubulin synthesis and the cytoskeleton structure, as do tubulin-related gene mutations. The elevated selenium species levels in the TUBA4A patient may have a genetic etiology and/or represent a pathogenic pathway through which this mutation favors disease onset, though unmeasured confounding cannot be excluded. The elevated selenomethionine levels in the other patients are also of interest due to the toxicity of this nonphysiological selenium species. Our study is the first to assess selenium exposure in genetic ALS, suggesting an interaction between this environmental factor and genetics in triggering disease onset. PMID: 28478440 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Neuro-Degenerative Diseases - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Neurodegener Dis Source Type: research