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Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) and motor neurone disease are linked by the possession of a hexanucleotide repeat expansion in C9ORF72, and both show neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions within cerebellar and hippocampal neurones which are TDP‐43 negative but immunoreactive for p62 and dipeptide repeat proteins (DPR), these being generated by a non‐ATG RAN translation of the expanded region of the gene.

Twenty‐two cases of FTLD from Newcastle were analysed for an expansion in C9ORF72 by repeat primed PCR and Southern blot. Detailed case note analysis was performed, and blinded retrospective clinical impressions were achieved by review of clinical histories. Sections from all major brain regions were immunostained for TDP‐43, p62 and DPR. The extent of TDP‐43 and DPR pathology in expansion bearers was compared with that in 13 other previously identified …