Multi-Ethnic Comparison of the Characteristics of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis-Related TBK1 Gene Variants

Abstract

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurological disease, and the etiology of sporadic ALS is unknown. The TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1) gene identified as an ALS gene, contributes towards a predisposition for ALS. In this review, we analyzed variants of TBK1 found in ALS cohort studies belonging to various regions and ethnic populations. TBK1 variants tend to be enriched in patients with ALS compared to patients without ALS. The frequency of TBK1 variants is more in the familial Caucasian than that in the Asian population. However, loss of function (LoF) variant associated with sporadic ALS is almost similar among the Asian group, including Japanese population. LoF variants were frequently reported to be associated with the TBK1 biology. These findings indicate that TBK1- LoF variants are pathogenic for ALS, regardless of race or region.