Abnormal phosphorylation of ser409/410 of TDP-43 in FTLD-U and ALS

A monoclonal antibody specific for phosphoserines 409 and 410 of TDP-43 (mAb pS409/410) has been produced. It strongly stained TDP-43-positive inclusions in brain of patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, but did not stain nuclei, in which normal TDP-43 is localized. It did not recognize TDP-43 rapidly extracted from brains of rats at various developmental stages, strongly suggesting that phosphorylation of Ser409/410 is an abnormal event. Analysis of postmortem changes of TDP-43 revealed that the amounts of Sarkosyl-insoluble, urea-soluble full-length TDP-43 and a 35 kDa N-terminal fragment increased time-dependently. (C) 2008 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.