Clinicopathological characteristics of FTLD-TDP showing corticospinal tract degeneration but lacking lower motor neuron loss

Abstract

The presence of frontotemporal lobar degeneration with TDP-43-positive inclusions (FTLD-TDP) showing corticospinal tract (CST) degeneration but lacking lower motor neuron (LMN) loss has been reported, and the term primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) is used to distinguish motor neuron disease (MND) of these cases from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). To date, however, details of clinicopathological findings of FTLD-MND-PLS type (FTLD-MND-P) have not been reported. We evaluated medical records and histopathological findings of ten cases of FTLD-MND-P, in comparison with those of six FTLD-MND-ALS type (FTLD-MND-A) cases. The mean age at onset and disease duration of FTLD-MND-P cases were 54 and 12 years, respectively. The first symptoms were frontotemporal dementia showing behavioral abnormality and/or personality change in five cases, semantic dementia in three cases, progressive non-fluent aphasia in one case, and auditory hallucination in one case. Upper motor neuron signs were clinically identified in six of the ten cases. There were no LMN signs throughout the clinical course in any case. Histopathologically, there was no obvious LMN loss or Bunina bodies in the hypoglossal nucleus or spinal cord in any case, whereas the CST was involved in all cases. The cerebral cortex of the six cases showed type 1 of TDP-43 histology defined by Cairns et al., whereas three cases showed type 3 histology, and one case showed type 2 histology. In all cases, TDP-43 positive neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions were absent or rare in the LMNs, while TDP-43 positive round structures were frequently identified in the neuropil of the spinal cord anterior horn in some cases. This study clarified that FTLD-MND-P cases have characteristic clinicopathological features distinct from those of FTLD-MND-A.