Analysis on the transcriptomic profile in the cerebellar vermis of ataxia telangiectasia patients

Previous studies have demonstrated the possible roles of dysregulation of endogenous retroelements in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. In our study, we demonstrated that the activation and upregulation of endogenous retroelement LINE-1 in the cerebellum can induce the cerebellar ataxia phenotype in vivo using mouse model. While there has been reports demonstrating that ATM gene, whose mutations are causative of Ataxia Telangiectasia (A-T) in humans, regulates LINE-1, and suggesting that the LINE-1 dysregulation caused by its mutation plays a role in the pathogenesis of ataxia phenotype in A-T, little is known about the transcriptome of the A-T patients’ cerebellum. This is the first detailed analysis of the cellular and retroelement transcriptome in A-T patient’s cerebellum, and the result of this analysis, together with the transcriptomic analysis in our LINE-1 activation mice, collectively suggests the profound roles of LINE-1 dysregulation in the development as well as the progression of ataxia in A-T patients. Transcriptomic profiles of the postmortem cerebellar vermis samples from ataxia telangiectasia patients and age/sex-matched controls (4 males + 2 females for both groups, age range 16-36-year-old) were analyzed.