Open Access

ARTICLE

Phylogenetic analysis of microRNA biomarkers for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

HSIUYING WANG^1,2,*

1 Institute of Statistics, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, 30010, Taiwan
2 Institute of Statistics, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, 30010, Taiwan

* Corresponding Author: Hsiuying Wang. Email:

(This article belongs to this Special Issue: Molecular and Cellular Diagnostic Models)

BIOCELL 2021, 45(3), 547-561. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2021.014343

Received 19 September 2020; Accepted 23 December 2020; Issue published 03 March 2021

Abstract

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also called Lou Gehrig’s disease, is an irreversible disease that is caused by the degeneration and death of motor neurons. Approximately 5–10% of cases are familial ALS (fALS), and the other cases are sporadic ALS (sALS). Gene mutations have been identified both in fALS and sALS patients. In this study, we discuss the four ALS-related genes, C9orf72, SOD1, FUS, and TARDBP, and review the microRNAs (miRNAs) that are associated with ALS and other neurological disorders from the literature. A phylogenetic analysis is used to explore potential miRNAs that can be taken into account when studying the difference in pathology for ALS induced by the four genes and other neurological diseases such as frontotemporal dementia, spinal muscular atrophy, and narcolepsy. We found several miRNAs that can be taken into account to study the difference in pathology between ALS and other neurological disorders.

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