Anna Kowalska

Poznańskie Centrum Superkomputerowo-Sieciowe

The majority of Alzheimer's disease cases, i.e. more than 85% of the whole population of patients, can be referred to as the sporadic form of the disease, with a negative family history and complex inheritance. As the genetic background of sporadic Alzheimer's disease is still largely unknown., strategies based on individual genetic risk profiling...

Fifty years ago it was demonstrated that some patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) had an autosomal dominant Mendelian pattern of disease inheritance. Familial and early-onset cases (familial Alzheimer's disease, FAD) are rather rare and account for only a few percent of the total population of patients. Mutations of the genes for amyloid precurs...

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), characterized by neurodegeneration mainly in the frontal and temporal lobes, accounts for ca. 10-15% of all dementias. In 1892 the Czech-German neuropsychiatrist Arnold Pick reported the fi rst case of FTD in a 71-year-old patient suffering from progressive dementia, memory disturbances, and aphasia associated with fr...

The brains of AD patients are characterized by cortical atrophy in the form of gyral shrinkage,widening of the sulci, and enlargement of the ventricles. The fi rst regions to be affected are the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex. At later stages of the disease appear: 1) accumulation of extracellular senile plaques (disturbed App protein metabolism...

Mutations in the amyloid precursor protein (APP), presenilin 1 (PSEN1) and presenilin 2 (PSEN2) genes are associated with early-onset familial Alzheimer's disease (EOAD). There are several reports describing mutations in PSEN1 in cases with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). We identified two novel mutations in the PSEN1 gene: L226F and L424H. The firs...

With the identification of the genes responsible for autosomal dominant early-onset familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD genes), there is a considerable interest in the application of this genetic information in medical practice through genetic testing and counseling. Pathogenic mutations in the PSEN1 and PSEN2 genes encoding presenilin-1 and -2, and...

According to the beta-amyloid cascade hypothesis, the accumulation of beta-amyloid (Abeta) deposits as amyloid plaques in the patient's brain is the primary event in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Other neuropathological changes such as neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), synaptic degeneration and neuronal cell loss are secondary and app...

Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of dementia, is characterized by two types of brain lesions, referred to as senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Moreover, neuronal cell loss and synaptic degeneration appear in affected regions of the brain. A series of endoproteolytic cleavages of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) controlled...

Although deposition of aggregated amyloid beta-protein (Abeta) in human brain is a fundamental pathological event in the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD), our knowledge of the molecular mechanisms underlying the initiation of Abeta fibril formation remains still very incomplete. Recent data indicate that genetic factors have a direct effect...

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), also known as Steele-Richardson-Olszewski syndrome, is a rare form of parkinsonism characterised by abundant tau pathology. Only a few familial cases have been reported, therefore PSP can be considered as a sporadic tauopathy. Recent case-control studies of patients with sporadic PSP suggest that PSP has a rece...

The beta-amyloid precursor protein (APP) gene (on chromosome 21), Presenilin 1 (PS1) gene (on chromosome 14) and Presenilin 2 (PS2) gene (on chromosome 1) are responsible for autosomal dominant early-onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD). Missense mutations in these genes cause abnormal APP processing with subsequent overproduction of amyloidogenic and...

Mutations in Presenilin 1 (PS1) and Presenilin 2 (PS2) genes account for up to 50% of familial early-onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD). In order to assess the genetic contribution of the PS genes in a series of Polish patients, we performed a mutational analysis in 6 autosomal dominant (ADEOAD), 8 familial and 41 sporadic EOAD cases from Poznan regi...

A small number (1-5%) of Alzheimer's disease (AD) cases associated with the early-onset form of the disease (EOAD) appears to be transmitted as a pure genetic, autosomal dominant trait. To date, three genes responsible for familial EOAD have been identified in the human genome: amyloid precursor protein (APP), presenilin 1 (PS1), and presenilin 2 (...

According to the "amyloid cascade hypothesis", the accumulation of A beta peptides in the brain is a primary event in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Other pathological features (neurofibrillary tangles, neuronal damage and cell death) are regarded as secondary. One of the strong pieces of evidence supporting this hypothesis was the i...

We present the clinical and genetic characteristics of a Japanese patient with neuropathologically confirmed familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/parkinsonism dementia complex (ALS/PDC). The 68-year-old proband with an 8-year history of parkinsonism and neurogenic amyotrophy and her three siblings suffering from parkinsonism associated with demen...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by memory loss and personality changes. Pathological hallmarks of AD are: deposition of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain, accompanied by neuronal and synaptic loss. The genetic background of AD is heterogeneous and strongly depends on the form...

Frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17 (FTDP-17) is characterised by behavioural, cognitive and motor disturbances. Pathological changes in the brain include fronto-temporal atrophy with neuronal loss, grey white matter gliosis and superficial cortical spongiform. In addition, intraneuronal tau inclusions with the variable...

Frontotemporal dementia represents up to 10% of all dementias and is, next to Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body disease, the third most common cause of degenerative dementia. The term "frontotemporal dementia" covers a range of conditions, including Pick's disease, frontal lobe degeneration and dementia associated with motor neurone disease. Neurop...

Mutations in the microtubule-associated tau gene are responsible for frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17 (FTDP-17). A reduced ability of the mutated microtubule-associated tau protein to interact with microtubules causes microtubule destabilization leading to deleterious effects on axonal transport and the formation of...

We screened for tau gene mutations among 24 Japanese (6 familial and 18 sporadic cases) and 4 Polish patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) using PCR-SSCP analysis followed by DNA sequencing. We identified 2 missense mutations in exon 10: N279K and P301L in 2 Japanese patients with familial FTD. Additionally 3 DNA polymorphisms: 2 known (3' ex...

We have reported the family line with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in Japan. This family line has so far included four patients. Patient II-1 (man) had a 10 year history of slowly progressive personality and behavioral changes and died at the age of 56. His neuropathological examination showed severe atrophy of the bilateral frontal and temporal c...

To characterize the clinical diagnostic features, neuropathologic phenotype of tau deposition, and subunit structure of tau filaments in patients who had an asparagine-to-lysine substitution at codon 279 (the N279K missense mutation) of the gene for microtubule-associated tau protein. The N279K mutation is a causative genetic defect for pallidopont...