Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a genetically and pathologically heterogeneous neurodegenerative disease caused by the loss or damage of nerve cells in the brain's frontal and temporal lobes. This leads to abnormalities in behaviour, personality, and language comprehension problems. Also, people with FTD show movement disorders like tremor, rigidity, difficulty in coordination, muscle spasms and weakness. FTD's etiology is sporadic or heritable. Sixty to 70% of FTD cases are sporadic, while 30 to 40% are inherited (familial aggregation). For this study, blood samples were collected from clinically diagnosed or suspected FTD patients and were analysed for a broad range of pathogenic variants in genes associated with FTD. The scientific insights acquired from this study will help identify novel therapeutic targets and develop/ investigate potential disease-modifying drugs.
An international, multicenter, epidemiological observational study aims to investigate the prevalence of genetic etiologies in patients diagnosed with FTD or clinically suspected for FTD.