title: Association of monoamine oxidase B alleles with age at onset in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
abstract: An active role of monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease has been proposed as the enzyme is known to be a generator of free radicals which seem to be responsible for neuron oxidative damage. We evaluated the influence of MAO-B in the pathogenesis of the sporadic forms of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by studying the MAO-B allele distribution in 51 patients and 71 healthy controls. MAO-B did not directly result in a risk factor for ALS but seemed to strongly influence age at onset. The mean ALS onset age was significantly higher in individuals carrying allele 5 compared to individuals without this allele (60.4 +/- 8.1 vs. 52.1 +/- 10.3 years; P = 0.004). These results, in agreement with findings in the literature, suggest an increased MAO-B expression in ALS and support the hypothesis that neuronal cell death in neurodegenerative diseases is triggered by astroglial reaction.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Internistiche, Cattedra di Genetica Medica, Cagliari, Italy. contu@vaxca1.unica.it
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Orrù
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mascia
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Casula
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Giuressi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Loizedda
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carcassi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giagheddu
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Contu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D000483:Alleles; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008995:Monoamine Oxidase / Q000235:genetics*; D017678:Sex Distribution
chemical_list: D008995:Monoamine Oxidase