Project: Modifying risk factors for Fronto Temporal Dementia
Fronto Temporal Dementia (FTD) is a devastating pre-senile dementia characterized by the progressive deterioration of the frontal lobe and changes in social and personal behaviour and blunting of emotions. Up to 40% of cases have a positive family history and this has been the key to the remarkable progress in our understanding of the molecular basis of FTD. Seven genes have been identified of which MAPT, GRN and C9Orf72 explain >50% of familial cases, but how these different genes lead to a very similar clinical phenotype is unknown. There is no cure for FTD and success of therapy will depend on whether a single therapy can be applied to all patients or if specific approaches are needed for the distinct genetic, clinical and pathological subgroups. Therefore it is essential to identify all major genetic and environmental risk and modifying factors in the pathogenesis of the disease. We will use existing genetic and pathological knowledge as a starting point to decode affected processes and pathways in different groups of patients with FTD using a multi level approach based on genetic and “omics” data from patients and corresponding animal and cellular models. The biological significance of identified networks will be validated in our cellular and animal models and will pinpoint potential pathomechanisms that are specific to a single FTD-subtype or common to all forms. The results will be utilized to improve the quality of our predictions towards targeted intervention.
| Acronym | RiMod-FTD (Reference Number: JPND_RF-542-016) |
| Duration | 01/01/2014 - 01/01/2017 |
| Project Topic | Neurodegenerative disease |
| Website | visit project website |
| Network | JPND |
| Call | A JPND call for European research projects for the identification of genetic, epigenetic and environmental risk and protective factors for Neurodegenerative Diseases |
Project partner
| Number | Name | Role | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | German Center For Neurodegenerative Diseases- Tuebingen | Coordinator | Germany |
| 2 | University College London | Partner | United Kingdom |
| 3 | Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital | Partner | France |
| 4 | Erasmus University Medical Center | Partner | Netherlands |
| 5 | Santa Lucia Foundation | Partner | Italy |
| 6 | Vesalius Research Center | Partner | Belgium |
| 7 | Copenhagen University | Partner | Denmark |
| 8 | German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases- Göttingen | Partner | Germany |
| 9 | Technical University Munich (TUM) | Partner | Germany |
| 10 | German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases- Bonn | Partner | Germany |