Understanding the role that shared genetic factors might play in cognitive and behavioural symptoms seen in people with MND.
Principal Investigator: Dr Ross Byrne
Lead institution: Trinity College Dublin
MND Association Funding: £284,583*
Funding dates: September 2023 - August 2026
* Supported by the Lady Edith Wolfson Fellowship Programme
About the project
Some people with MND experience cognitive or behavioural symptoms, with about 15% of people suffering from frontotemporal dementia (FTD). These cognitive and behavioural symptoms can limit the success of life-prolonging treatments such as feeding tubes and breathing support. Understanding more about these symptoms might help to improve the wellbeing of people with MND and recent research has suggested these symptoms may have a genetic basis. However, currently little research has been done to identify which genes and pathways are involved. This project will analyse data from the largest studies of genetic factors contributing to MND and cognitive symptoms to identify shared genetic factors (which contribute to both cognitive decline and MND) and distinct genetic factors (which contribute purely to motor symptoms in MND). It is hoped that this could help with grouping people with MND for clinical trials, and in understanding the causes of cognitive symptoms in MND.
What could this mean for MND research?
This project aims to pinpoint which genetic factors are shared (may contribute to both cognitive decline and MND) and which are distinct (may contribute just to motor symptoms in MND). The results of this project could be used to develop genetic risk scores which could help to predict clinical outcomes of the disease. This project could shed more light on the root causes of cognitive symptoms in MND. The outcomes could also help to create a prediction tool that may be useful in grouping people with MND for clinical trials.
Project code: 979-799
