Novel progranulin mutations with reduced serum-progranulin levels in frontotemporal lobar degeneration

Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease with an age at onset generally below 65 years. Mutations in progranulin (GRN) have been reported to be able to cause FTLD through haploinsufficiency. We have sequenced GRN in 121 patients with FTLD and detected six different mutations in eight patients: p. Gly35Glufs* 19, p. Asn118Phefs* 4, p. Val200Glyfs* 18, p. Tyr294*, p. Cys404* and p. Cys416Leufs* 30. Serum was available for five of the mutations, where the serum-GRN levels were found to be 450% reduced compared with FTLD patients without GRN mutations. Moreover, the p. Cys416Leufs* 30 mutation segregated in an affected family with different dementia diagnoses. The mutation frequency of GRN mutation was 6.6% in our FTLD cohort.