% IMPORTANT: The following is UTF-8 encoded. This means that in the presence
% of non-ASCII characters, it will not work with BibTeX 0.99 or older.
% Instead, you should use an up-to-date BibTeX implementation like “bibtex8” or
% “biber”.
@ARTICLE{Huber:285263,
author = {Huber, Nadine and Hietanen, Tomi and Heikkinen, Sami and
Shakirzyanova, Anastasia and Hoffmann, Dorit and Rostalski,
Hannah and Dhingra, Ashutosh and Rodriguez-Nieto, Salvador
and Kärkkäinen, Sari and Koskuvi, Marja and Korhonen, Eila
and Hartikainen, Päivi and Pylkäs, Katri and Krüger,
Johanna and Malm, Tarja and Takalo, Mari and Hiltunen, Mikko
and Koistinaho, Jari and Portaankorva, Anne M and Solje,
Eino and Haapasalo, Annakaisa},
title = {{F}rontotemporal dementia patient-derived i{PSC} neurons
show cell pathological hallmarks and evidence for synaptic
dysfunction and {DNA} damage.},
journal = {Molecular psychiatry},
volume = {31},
number = {3},
issn = {1359-4184},
address = {[London]},
publisher = {Springer Nature},
reportid = {DZNE-2026-00205},
pages = {1500 - 1516},
year = {2026},
abstract = {Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is the second most common
cause of dementia in patients under 65 years, characterized
by diverse clinical symptoms, neuropathologies, and genetic
background. Synaptic dysfunction is suggested to play a
major role in FTD pathogenesis. Disturbances in the synaptic
function can also be associated with the C9orf72 repeat
expansion (C9-HRE), the most common genetic mutation causing
FTD. C9-HRE leads to distinct pathological hallmarks, such
as C9orf72 haploinsufficiency and development of toxic RNA
foci and dipeptide repeat proteins (DPRs). FTD patient
brains, including those carrying the C9-HRE, are also
characterized by neuropathologies involving accumulation of
TDP-43 and p62/SQSTM1 proteins. This study utilized induced
pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cortical neurons from
C9-HRE-carrying or sporadic FTD patients and healthy control
individuals. We report that the iPSC neurons derived from
C9-HRE carriers developed typical C9-HRE-associated
hallmarks, including RNA foci and DPR accumulation. All FTD
neurons demonstrated increased cytosolic accumulation of
TDP-43 and p62/SQSTM1 and changes in nuclear size and
morphology. In addition, the FTD neurons displayed reduced
number and altered morphologies of dendritic spines and
significantly altered synaptic function indicated by a
decreased response to stimulation with GABA. These
structural and functional synaptic disturbances were
accompanied by upregulated gene expression in the FTD
neurons related to synaptic function, including synaptic
signaling, glutamatergic transmission, and pre- and
postsynaptic membrane, as compared to control neurons.
Pathways involved in DNA repair were significantly
downregulated in FTD neurons. Only one gene, NUPR2,
potentially involved in DNA damage response, was
differentially expressed between the sporadic and
C9-HRE-carrying FTD neurons. Our results show that the iPSC
neurons from FTD patients recapitulate pathological changes
of the FTD brain and strongly support the hypothesis of
synaptic dysfunction as a crucial contributor to disease
pathogenesis in FTD.},
keywords = {Humans / Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells: metabolism /
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells: pathology / Frontotemporal
Dementia: genetics / Frontotemporal Dementia: pathology /
Frontotemporal Dementia: metabolism / Neurons: metabolism /
Neurons: pathology / C9orf72 Protein: genetics / C9orf72
Protein: metabolism / DNA Damage: genetics / DNA Damage:
physiology / Synapses: metabolism / Synapses: pathology /
DNA-Binding Proteins: metabolism / DNA-Binding Proteins:
genetics / Male / Female / Sequestosome-1 Protein:
metabolism / Middle Aged / Aged / DNA Repeat Expansion:
genetics / Brain: metabolism / C9orf72 Protein (NLM
Chemicals) / DNA-Binding Proteins (NLM Chemicals) /
Sequestosome-1 Protein (NLM Chemicals) / SQSTM1 protein,
human (NLM Chemicals) / C9orf72 protein, human (NLM
Chemicals) / TARDBP protein, human (NLM Chemicals)},
cin = {AG Heutink},
ddc = {610},
cid = {I:(DE-2719)1210002},
pnm = {354 - Disease Prevention and Healthy Aging (POF4-354)},
pid = {G:(DE-HGF)POF4-354},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)16},
pubmed = {pmid:41006764},
doi = {10.1038/s41380-025-03272-x},
url = {https://pub.dzne.de/record/285263},
}